Secretary-level talks: India, Pakistan discuss nuclear confidence building measures

Two-day expert level talks begin in Islamabad as part of peace process between the two countries.

ISLAMABAD: Expert-level secretaries from India and Pakistan discussed conventional and nuclear confidence building measures (CBMs) as part of a peace process between the two neighbours, as two-day talks began on Monday in Islamabad, Express News reported.

Additional Secretary (UN & EC) Ministry of Foreign Affairs Munawwar Saeed Bhatti represented Pakistan, while Joint Secretary (PAI) Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), YK Sinha headed the Indian delegation.

The secretaries also exchanged views regarding the exchange of prisoners and the increase of trade in Jammu and Kashmir.

Last week, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar expressed that Pakistan was committed to pursuing a constructive, sustained and result-oriented process of engagement with India, including on the issue of Kashmir.

Despite Pakistan’s troubled relations with the US and neighboring Afghanistan, the relationship with India has continued to show improvement. In November this year at the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in the Maldives, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh pledged to open a ‘new chapter’ in otherwise fragile relations between Islamabad and New Delhi.