Pak for change in format for talks with India

Pakistan agreed to a change in the format for future talks with India in return for New Delhi's consent to resume broad-based engagement with it, diplomatic sources said on Friday.

This process of give and take was behind the breakthrough in Thursday's meeting between Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on the margins of the SAARC summit in Bhutan, the sources told PTI.

There were several indications during Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's news conference on Friday that Pakistan was amenable to accepting a format other than the composite dialogue for future talks with India.

Asked if the format for dialogue between India and Pakistan would be changed, Qureshi said there was "no difficulty" over the nomenclature for talks to be held in future as the two sides intended to discuss all outstanding issues, including the Kashmir dispute, Siachen, Sir Creek, sharing of river waters, trade and people-to-people contacts.

If all issues are being discussed, call it comprehensive dialogue or call it composite dialogue or call it what you may. It is the spirit behind the dialogue that counts. I can share with you that the spirit was right," he said.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao too said on Thursday that nomenclatures were not important. The sources said there would be greater focus in the dialogue on terrorism, a key issue for India, while the sharing of river waters, a major concern for Pakistan, is expected to constitute a separate segment in future talks.

During today's news conference, Qureshi said Pakistan and India already had a "Joint Anti-Terror Mechanism" to counter the menace though there is a need to see whether it needs to be improved.

Qureshi also hinted that the adoption of a new format for talks did not mean that the two countries would have to start from scratch in addressing outstanding issues.

"All issues of concern to India and Pakistan that have been discussed in the past will be discussed in the future in the dialogue which is going to resume shortly," he said.

Following Thursday's meeting between Singh and Gilani, officials of both countries announced that the two sides had agreed to resume the peace process that was stalled in the wake of 2008 Mumbai terror attacks which were blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Tayiba.

Officials of both sides also made no mention of the resumption of the composite dialogue, which was launched in 2004. This marked a shift in the positions of both countries, the sources said.

Till recently, India had been insisting that talks should focus on terrorism and the two sides should move forward in phases after Pakistan took action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks.

On its part, Pakistan's Foreign Office had been maintaining that it would accept nothing short of the full-fledged resumption of the composite dialogue, which India had put on hold immediately after the Mumbai carnage.

The composite dialogue had consisted of eight segments peace and security, including confidence-building measures, Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, Wullar Barrage, terrorism and drug trafficking, economic and commercial cooperation and promotion of friendly exchanges.