Islamabad: Pakistan and India will explore the prospects of a "just and peaceful" resolution to the Kashmir problem and focus on issues of peace and security when their Foreign Secretaries meet next week in New Delhi, the government here said today.

The fifth round of the Composite Dialogue process will be kicked off when Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir meet on July 21 to discuss peace and security, including confidence-building measures, and the Kashmir issue - two of the eight subjects that are part of the dialogue.

"During the talks, both sides will look into the prospects of a just and peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. The talks will also focus on the issues of peace and security," said a statement issued by Pakistan's Foreign Office.

"Implementation of various conventional, nuclear and cross-Line of Control confidence-building measures will be reviewed and possible new CBMs will be discussed," it said. The statement also said the meeting will "provide an opportunity for the two foreign secretaries to discuss other areas of bilateral cooperation".

Official sources said some decisions made at the meeting of the Pakistan-India Working Group on cross-LoC confidence-building measures, which was held here yesterday, would be announced by the foreign secretaries.

The meeting of foreign secretaries has been curtailed to one day from two days because of Indian government's pre- occupation with a crucial trust vote in Parliament on July 22. The talks will also be held against the backdrop of allegations by Afghanistan that Pakistani intelligence agencies were involved in the recent suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul that killed nearly 60 people.
Source : PTI