3rd round of Indo-Pak talks may be fruitful: Govt

Sounding upbeat about the current pace of the Indo-Pak peace process, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Shivshankar Menon has said the third round of Composite Dialogue may result in "tangible" progress on some key issues, including Sir Creek and Siachen.

Menon also said more than the pace of talks, it was important that the dialogue process should be sustainable in the long run.

Interacting with the media at the South Asia Free Media Association in Islamabad Friday, he said the current third round of Composite Dialogue process may result in tangible progress on some key issues between the two nations.

"We have a very good sense how to tackle the problems like Siachen and Sir Creek in a pragmatic way," he said.

Referring to Pakistan's stand linking normalisation of relations to resolution of Kashmir issue, he said, "Do both. Don't let one veto the other."

Without directly responding to the reported offer by the Hizbul Mujahideen leader that militant groups could take part in dialogue under certain conditions, Menon said, "We are ready to talk with everybody and there are tremendous flexibilities within the Indian Constitution, which permit us to do this."

Elaborating on India's stand enunciated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said, "Obviously in our view, the representatives of the Kashmiri people are those who are elected by them as their leaders."