Foreign secys of India, Pak to meet on July 4-5

Foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan will hold talks in Delhi on July 4-5 to discuss peace and security, including Confidence Building Measures and Kashmir.

As part of the second round of resumed dialogue process between India and Pakistan, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai will hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Jalil Abbas Jilani.

They will discuss peace and security, including Confidence Building Measures, Jammu and Kashmir and promotion of friendly exchanges, said spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Syed Akbaruddin.

Earlier, Jilani had announced that he would be traveling to India on June 29 to hold talks but given the political upheaval in Pakistan, the talks were delayed.

Last time, the foreign secretaries had met in Islamabad, during which India's concerns over terror and the slow pace of the Mumbai attack trial were discussed.

Asked about new dates for the meeting of Indo-Pak foreign Ministers, Akbaruddin said, "...rescheduling again has issues in terms of what is suitable to us and what is suitable to the authorities in Pakistan. We are trying to work out dates because as you know, after 22nd of July Parliament is in session... With that in mind he has mentioned that we are looking at dates sometime in August at the earliest on this."

"We will try and get back to you once it is finalised. But please do not think that the scheduling issue is reflective of substantive problems. There are none and so do not look for them," the spokesperson said.

"It just happened that while we were working on the date where we had indicated a possibility of that date being suitable to us, other developments have intervened since  then because when the date was being mentioned, there was no reference to an election for the President and with a specific date of polling on that date.

Since that has become the date on which the polling for the President is involved, and the external affairs minister of India is part of the electoral college for an important election in India, obviously we seek to reschedule these dates," he said.

On the political situation in Pakistan, he said, "As regards the issue of the present change of the dates, it is purely a scheduling issue because of conflict of another engagement. So, again please do not mix it with the substance of the relationship.

"That said, since the original date was fixed, there have been changes that we are all aware of in Pakistan, and these of course will be factored in both by their side and by our side while finalising on a new date."