'Baglihar issue to indirectly affect India-Pakistan CBMs'
Pakistan Times Federal Bureau Report

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office Spokesman Masood Ahmed Khan has said Pakistan did its best to resolve the Baglihar issue with India through talks but could not succeed.

Talking to BBC he said the Indo-Pak talks on Baglihar project ended without yielding any result. The dialogue continued for four days but failed to provide any tangible outcome. The Pakistani side did its best to resolve the issue through talks but could not succeed, he added.

He said, "We came to know in May last year that the issue could not be resolve through talks as the Indian government was not positively responding on technical objections and apprehensions."

To a question he said, "Our priority was to resolve the issue through bilateral talks and we tried our level best. We conveyed our objections to India and made every thing crystal clear to them."

Of the World Bank

The Pakistan government decided in November that the issue would be taken with the World Bank if the bilateral talks collapse in this regard, he said.

Replying to another question, he said the report will be submitted before the government but the basic objectives of the talks were not achieved. "We will take next step keeping in mind the results of the recent talks", he added.

The Impact

To a question about the impact of Baglihar issue on ongoing talks process between both the countries he said not directly but it can put indirect impact on it because the efforts are being continued to create atmosphere of confidence between the two countries.

The dialogue, he said cannot be held without confidence, therfore the talks on Baglihar issue will indirectly affect Indo-Pak peace talks. "We should try to reduce distrust to resolve difficult issues with Cconfidence Building Measures (CBMs)", he added.

Pakistan-India talks on flag meetings next week

And a report from New Delhi says: India and Pakistan are expected to hold talks next week on the modalities of flag meetings between sector commanders at specific points on the Line of Control reduce the possibility of border clash.

The two countries at a foreign secretary level meeting in Islamabad in the last week of December had agreed to hold such meetings to ensure peace at the LoC. However, details of such meeting are yet to be worked out.

Newspaper reports suggest that India’s External Affairs’ Ministry has been in touch with its Defence Ministry on the issue and have been pursuing the matter in detail. Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran is expected to ask Director General Military Operations Lt. Gen. A. S. Bahia to discuss the details with his Pakistani counterpart in the coming week.

Recap

Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar, as part of Confidence Building Measures, had already made a specific proposal for flag meeting at the foreign secretary level meeting in the last week of December in Islamabad. India, on its part, had suggested border meeting along with a host of other proposals.

Both India and Pakistan are expected to discuss proposed monthly flag meetings in Olding, Chakothi, and Sadabad sectors, which till November 2003, were considered most tense and volatile due to frequent exchange of fire between Pakistan and Indian troops.

The DGMOs of the two countries are expected to work out details of the flag meetings after an expert level meeting before Indian External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh’s visit to Islamabad.

Observers believe that once these measures were in place, risk of clash would be reduced and one-year-old cease fire on the LoC would be consolidated.

Apart from Pakistan’s proposal for the flag meetings on the LoC, there are certain proposals made by India regarding military CBMs which include setting up hotlines between local commanders between Leh and Skardu, Baramullah and Murree as well as Suchetgarh and Sialkot.●