Foreign secy-level talks with Pak on June 27-28

Declaring that the Manmohan Singh government favoured continuation of the peace process with Pakistan, India on Tuesday announced dates for the much awaited foreign secretary-level talks and expert-level parleys on nuclear confidence-building measures.

In his first press conference, External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh said the future of Indo-Pak talks should be based on trust and not mistrust.

He also denied there will be any shift in India's policy of seeking good relations with the United States.

The minister declared that National Security Advisor J N Dixit will replace Brajesh Mishra as India's interlocutor with China on the border issue.

While the foreign secretaries will meet on June 27 and 28, parleys on nuclear confidence-building measures will take place on June 19 and 20.

"The future of Indo-Pak relationship no longer lies in the past. We cannot forget the past but neither can we be prisoners of the past," Singh said.

Recalling that India supported re-entry of Pakistan into the Commonwealth and its admission to ASEAN's ARF, he said the new government will continue the process of negotiations with Islamabad. "So, I am sorry to disappoint those who thought that the dialogue was not going ahead," he said.

About his remarks on Simla agreement being the basis of Indo-Pak relations, Singh recalled that in his statement he had said India's relations with Pakistan will be governed by the Simla pact, the Lahore declaration of 1999 and the joint statement issued on January 6 this year.

He said the new government had also not made any formal proposal or policy statement about converting the Line
of Control in Jammu and Kashmir into permanent border between the two countries.

"The proposal had been talked about by a number of respectable persons, including the Jammu and Kashmir chief
minister," he said.

The minister termed as unfounded apprehensions that there will be a change in India's policies towards the US and
said New Delhi will like to base its ties with Washington on mutual understanding, accommodation, cooperation and
consultations.