Pakistan, India Talks on Nuclear CBMs Today
By Omair Goraya - Pakistan Times Federal Bureau Chief

LAHORE: A delegation of Pakistan left for New Delhi on Thursday to hold two-day expert-level talks with Indian counterparts on nuclear Confidence Building Measures [CBMs].

The nine-member delegation being led by Additional Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tariq Osman Hyder and comprise Army, PAF and foreign ministry officials left for the Indian capital by air, taking off from Allama Iqbal Airport Lahore, the Punjab metropolis.

The Indian side at the talks today, August-5 and 6 will be headed by Additional Secretary, External Affairs Ministry Meera Shankar.

An earlier report from New Delhi said that Pakistan’s delegation will arrive here for two-day expert-level talks on Friday.

The delegation will be led by Additional Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tariq Osman Hyder and will comprise Director General South Asia, Foreign Office Syed Ibn-e-Abbas among others, the report said.

Deputy High Commissioner to India Munawar Saeed will also join the delegation during the parleys. The Indian side at the talks will be headed by Additional Secretary, External Affairs Ministry Meera Shankar.

Conventional CBMs

Experts-level talks on Conventional CBMs will be held on August-8, where Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs Dileep Sinha would lead the Indian side, while Pakistani side would be headed by Additional Secretary, Foreign Office Tariq Osman Hyder.

Economic, Commercial Cooperation

Pakistan’s delegation on Economic and Commercial Cooperation, headed by Secretary Commerce Tasneem Noorani, will arrive on August-8 to attend a two-day meeting within the framework of the composite dialogue process.

The two-day talks, to be held on August-9 and 10 are expected to take up various items of agenda, including the report of the Joint Study Group and the issue of Non-tariff Barriers (NTBs) to enhance trade between the two countries.

Home secretary-level meetings on terrorism and drug trafficking between the two countries would be held here on August 29 and 30 respectively.

In-depth

Officials of India and Pakistan will meet in New Delhi Friday to pursue discussions on nuclear safeguards aimed at cutting risks of accidental war between them amid a faltering peace drive.

Analysts say the mood has changed from the heady optimism three months ago when leaders of the nuclear-armed neighbours declared the peace process aimed at ending nearly 60 years of mutual hostility "irreversible."

Fuelling tensions at Friday's talks on confidence-building measures [CBMs] involving nuclear and conventional arsenals will be Islamabad's unhappiness over a US decision last month to share nuclear technology with India.

On the Table

On the table will be draft agreements thrashed out last year to set up nuclear hotlines and early notification of missile tests. India and Pakistan, which often test-fire nuclear-capable missiles, already have an informal deal to warn each other before such tests but have been seeking to make it formal.

"But even on these it will be very difficult to reach any conclusion in light of the domestic Pakistan context. This will overshadow the talks," a report says.

Pakistani analysts agreed there was scant chance of progress in the talks. "Pakistan will insist on a strategic regime to be put in place which covers the nuclear as well as conventional force balance," said Riffat Hussain, head of strategic studies at Islamabad's Quaid-e-Azam University. "This will be yet another round of talks without any agreement."

Underlying the chillier atmosphere is the longstanding row over the future of scenic Jammu & Kashmir which sparked two of three wars between the countries and brought them to the brink of another conflict in 2002.

While Pakistan is unhappy over the nuclear deal, "it knows, despite being a close US ally, it may not get what India is getting after the Khan episode," said Sharma.

"They may bargain for more debt write-offs or other things but they have to grudgingly accept what India got," Sharma viewed with typical Indian mindset.●