The Foreign Office spokesman on Monday said that though there was "no breakthrough so far" from the First Round of Composite Dialogue with India, the process provided opportunities to understand each other's perceptions on the issues and move forward. He said the two countries were going to hold the second round of talks on all eight agenda items, "and not a single one" of these had been dropped.
Answering questions at his regular weekly briefing here, Masood Khan said that the current dialogue was a "composite and integrated dialogue" and the leaders of the two countries were searching for solutions to all these issues, particularly that of Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
He said that foreign secretary-level talks between Pakistan and India would be held on December 23 and 24. The venue for the meeting has yet to be determined, he added.
These meetings will be followed by talks between Foreign Ministers Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri and Kunwar Nutwar Singh, for which dates were also under discussion between the two sides. Though he did not specifically say so, expectation currently here is that these will be after December 25 holiday.
However, preceding the Foreign Secretaries' conference will be meetings of the eight working groups and their reports would be available to the Foreign Secretaries for making their final report to the Foreign Ministers.
This review of Working Groups' performance will be in addition to the main two items on the agenda - Peace and Security, which entails a solution of the Kashmir problem and the overall confidence building measures.
The spokesman said that Secretaries would also recommend to their Ministers a schedule for future meetings on the six items - Siachin; Wullar Barrage; Sir Creek in the Arabian Sea, Terrorism and Drug Trafficking; Economic and Commercial Cooperation and Promotion of Friendly Exchanges.
Except two working groups, the other six groups are to meet according to the schedule agreed upon during Kasuri's visit to New Delhi in September last.
These meetings would start from next week when the Working Group on resumption of Khokhrapar-Munabao rail link will open its two-day meeting here from Thursday, to be followed by the officials of Pakistan Maritime Security Agency and Indian Coast Guards at New Delhi. This group is to discuss a memo of understanding for opening communication links between the two organisations.
Another group to meet in India in the second week of December will be on the opening of a bus service between Muzzaffarabad and Srinagar across the Line of Control. While the technicalities of the project have more or less been resolved, the main issue dodging the bus service is the documents, which the travellers will carry. While New Delhi wants acceptance of its passport by the Kashmiris living under its occupation, Pakistan wishes that passengers from both sides should carry UN documents.
The meetings of the two groups which are being re-scheduled are of experts on trade related issues original scheduled for December 9 and 10 at New Delhi and the groups on Narcotics Control authorities who are to finalise a Memo of Understanding. The latter was to open its session on Monday in New Delhi.
The following three groups will meet on the dates fixed earlier: experts on Nuclear CBMs and draft agreement on advance notification of missile tests at Islamabad on December 14 and 15; experts on Conventional CBMs at Islamabad on December 15 and 16 and Group on Joint Survey of the Boundary Pillars on the Horizontal Segment in the Sir Creek Area at Karachi on December 14 and 15.
US ARMS FOR INDIA: The spokesman said that Pakistan has told Washington that any supply of defence equipment to India would disturb the strategic balance in the region and would not be conducive to the current peace process.
He said that Pakistan had special relationship with the United States as well as with several other countries and felt secured.
Masood Khan said that the recent test-firing of a missile by Pakistan was not a tit for tat response from Pakistan but was part of its missile technology experiments.
Both countries conduct these experiments from time to time and always alert each other about their schedules.
He said that he had read the reported utterances of Indian Army Chief of Staff that his country had other options available as far as relations with Pakistan were concerned, but wondered what had prompted the statement. Pakistan's Armed Forces, he said, are quite strong to defend the country.
Masood said that Pakistan prefers to have a consistent bilateral dialogue with India for its Wuller Barrage project. He said it was desirable to have a direct solution. But if need be and the two sides agreed, Pakistan could ask the World Bank to designate a neutral expert, which is provided in the Indus Basin Treaty.
He advised questioners to wait for the final round of discussions on the issue and then Islamabad would examine options open to it under the Treaty.
On the reported meeting between Indian government leaders and some Kashmiri leaders in Nepal, Masood said he had read about the report in the newspaper but had no confirmation about it from official sources.
However, he termed it as a good omen and hoped that the Indian authorities would let the Kashmiri leaders visit Pakistan and hold discussions with their counterparts and also the government leaders at Islamabad.
He reiterated that Pakistan had assured Iran and India of its fuller cooperation for its part in the maintenance and security of pipeline of Iranian gas which India is interested to buy.