Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani will leave for New Delhi today (Tuesday) to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Ranjan Mathai on Wednesday. According to Foreign Office sources, the two Foreign Secretaries will meet in New Delhi on July 4-5 to discuss peace and security including CBMs, Jammu and Kashmir and promotion of friendly ties.
They said that Foreign Secretary Jilani would also hold meetings with Kashmiri leadership including Hurriyat Conference leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq during his visit. The Foreign Secretaries' meeting in New Delhi was to be followed by the Pak-India Foreign Ministers level talks in Islamabad during the current month, but the ministerial-level talks have been postponed due to presidential poll in India.
Meanwhile, Foreign Office spokesman Moazam Ahmad Khan said that Pakistan and India exchanged list of prisoners. According to the Agreement on Consular Access signed between Pakistan and India on May 21, 2008, both the countries are required to exchange lists of prisoners in each other's custody twice a year, on January 1 and July 1, respectively, he said.
"Consistent with the provisions of the Agreement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs handed over a list of Indian prisoners in Pakistan to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad on Monday, (July 1, 2012 being a closed holiday)," the spokesman added.