Dont prejudge outcome of talks,says Pak

Days ahead of the Indo-Pak Foreign Secretarys meeting,differences have started emerging between the two countries of the nature of the talks.

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Days ahead of the Indo-Pak Foreign Secretarys meeting,differences have started emerging between the two countries of the nature of the talks. While India has maintained on several occasions that the talks would be focused on terror and are not a resumption of the composite dialogue,Pakistan on Wednesday said the outcome of the meetings should not be prejudged.

In an official statement,the Pakistan foreign office took on Indias position that the talks should not be seen as a resumption of the composite dialogue by saying that this is contrary to our understanding,indicating that Islamabad was expecting the meetings to focus not only on terror but other matters as well.

While India had made it clear on earlier occasions that a freeze would remain on the composite dialogue that was halted after the Mumbai attacks,Islamabad said the outcome of the meeting should not be prejudged nor its scope circumscribed.

This came after Indias repeated assertion that the talks would focus only on terror and should not be mistaken for resumption of bilateral talks on a host of issue. New Delhi has said that the Foreign Secretarys meeting on February 25 is more of an exploratory step and would focus exclusively on the terror angle and the terror infrastructure on Pakistani soil.

Earlier this month too,India had conveyed to Pakistan through diplomatic channels that it would not be possible to resume the dialogue process straightaway as that would indicate that Indias concerns on the terror front have been addressed fully by Islamabad.

While Pakistans High Commissioner Shahid Malik,sources said,had conveyed to Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao that Islamabad was keen to resume the composite dialogue,India had only expressed its concerns on the activities of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its leader Hafiz Mohammed Saeed.

India must accept Kashmir as core dispute: Hafiz

ISLAMABAD: JuD chief Hafiz Saeed,the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks,on Wednesday said India must accept Kashmir as a core dispute if it wants to restore confidence in the dialogue with Pakistan.

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India has never had a sincere interest in opening dialogue. When they do,it is because of national interest. If India wants to restore confidence in opening dialogue with Pakistan,then India must accept Kashmir as a core dispute, Saeed told Qatar-based Al-Jazeera news channel. PTI