Indian, Pakistani diplomats in key Islamabad talks

PAKISTAN: Indian and Pakistani diplomats are to hold key talks yesterday, meeting in Islamabad for the first time in more than two years to build on a recent thaw that could get peace talks back on track.

India’s top civil servant at the Foreign Ministry, Nirupama Rao, flew into Islamabad late Wednesday to meet her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, seeking to craft the agenda for ministerial talks on July 15.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has invited his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna to Islamabad as part of a process of reconciliation between two countries that have fought three wars in the past 60 years.

Relations between the two nuclear-armed rivals crashed to a new low after 10 Islamist gunmen went on the rampage in Mumbai, leaving 166 people dead after 60 hours of bloodshed in November 2008.

India and the United States blamed the attack on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a militant group based in Pakistan and linked to the Pakistani spy service. New Delhi suspended a four-year peace process and demanded that Islamabad bring to justice the perpetrators of what is considered India’s September 11.

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has charged seven suspects in connection with the Mumbai attacks, including alleged mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and alleged LeT operative Zarar Shah, but Pakistan has said it needs more evidence. Rao said India would stress the need for “credible action” from Pakistan over evidence that had been provided to Islamabad on the Mumbai attacks.

“We have underlined the need for Pakistan to take this evidence seriously, to take it on board and to take substantive action in response to what we have conveyed to them,” she told reporters this week.

Islamabad, Thursday, AFP