After two days of official level parleys on the disputed Sir Creek area issue, India and Pakistan have decided to conduct a joint survey of the area by March 2007.

The second session provided some bilateral respite to the composite dialogue in the form of at least a concrete schedule for the rest of the year.

As a start, it has been decided that technical experts from both countries will meet in Islamabad this August to draw up the extent and modalities for the proposed joint survey. The Indian team will be led by Navy’s chief hydrographer Rear Admiral B R Rao.

The first joint survey conducted in January last year was of a segment of Sir Creek in the Rann of Kutch marshlands called the horizontal line. The joint survey that the two sides propose to conduct by March next year will be the other segment, referred to as the horizontal line near the mouth of the creek.

In a joint statement issued today, both sides said: ‘‘The talks were held in a friendly and cordial atmosphere. Both sides agreed on the early settlement of the land boundary in Sir Creek area and the maritime boundary.”

“We discussed the delineation of the common boundary in the area of creek and also shared details on delimitation of the maritime boundary, though we could not arrive at anything concrete on the latter. We will be discussing this further in August,” an official from the Indian side said.

-shiv.aroor@expressindia.com