Pakistan-India dialogue: Working group convenes on cross-LoC trade
Although liberal Indians celebrated the fact that blasts in Mumbai did not prevent the India-Pakistan dialogue from being held, it was clear that India was in no mood to go beyond brisk, crisp business.
While it is yet to be decided whether Pakistan had any official hand in the Mumbai blasts, the Pakistan-India Joint Working Group on cross-LoC Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) met in New Delhi on Monday for talks.
A terse statement from the Indian foreign office merely said that the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere. “During the meeting, both sides reviewed the existing cross-LoC travel and trade arrangements to ensure their effective implementation and exchanged views on additional measures to facilitate cross LoC travel and trade,” the press release said.
The Indian delegation was led by Y K Sinha, Joint Secretary (PAI), ministry of external affairs and Zehra H Akbari, Director General (South Asia), ministry of foreign affairs, led the Pakistan delegation.
There has been an unquenched thirst on both sides of the border for more people-to-people measures to address the agony of divided families.
Cross-LoC trade too is mired in bottlenecks over currency and the absence of proper communication facilities between the two sides. Most believe that the potential of these CBMs will remain unfulfilled unless they are made more accessible.
However, one set of analysts asked why talks were being held at all, when the blasts – being attributed to an alleged Lashkar-e-Taiba offshoot, Indian Mujihideen – had killed and maimed innocents.
“Pakistan is yet to deliver [on its promises to stop cross-border terror] in spite of repeated evidence about complicity of terrorism from Pakistan and yet Manmohan Singh is determined for dialogue,” Indian opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 19th, 2011.
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Finally a small step in the right direction.
It is good to see that many Pakistanis are waking up to know that India is no threat to them. Pak PM tells the world that they do not want aids but TRADE. India is offering it unconditionaly but the forces in power and the religious fanatics are against it so that the people suffer under them and are under their control. Just imagine if all Pak has work? WAKE UP MEN.
Comments give by Moiz and faraz may be relevant to the living world, but have no relevance to the story on Paki-India joint meeting in India. The agenda of the meeting is boosting trade and confidence building measure, not terrorism and extremism.
after getting our nuclear weapons the threat from india has receded.we need to confront the enemy withing that is the islamic militants which have multiplied across our society like cancer cells. all these hijabs,abayas,beards and burkas are now suffocating the normal,sane people in our society.These islamic radicals work actively to impose their religious dogma onto the rest of us,be it in our colleges and universities or our offices . These people who use the word tableegh for their their harmful activities are spreading the cancer of religious dogma throughout our society.they intimidate the non-muslims and make them feel inferior to us.it is time our security forces took action against these people .just because they have beards or wear burkas or hijabs doesn't make these people better than the rest of us.
we need to take care of our relgious terrorists who have killed more of our people than the indians have .we don't face that big a threat from india as we do from the islamic terrorists killing our people.we financed,supported and trained these religious fanatics who've now turned on our own people.yet our society continues to support islamic fascism in all its manifestations.the rabid mullahs campaigned violently for the barbaric blasphemy laws to stay as they are,the present govt. surrenders more and more against the religious extremists.even after their governor and minorities minister was murdered in the name of religion the present govt. continues to live in fear and surrender mode instead of taking these religious fanatics head on.