After a 14-month hiatus, Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan met in New Delhi today for structured talks with an aim of ending the chill in the relations caused by Mumbai attacks. Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao headed the Indian delegation while the Pakistani delegation was led by her counterpart Salman Bashir.Before getting into the talks at Hyderbad House, Mrs Rao welcomed Foreign Secretary of Pakistan. Mr Bashir expressed his pleasure and said Pakistan is looking forward to a very good, constructive engagement. At the talks, India is set to raise concerns over continued terrorism emanating from Pakistan and press it to end this scourge which is hampering normalisation of ties. In this context, Mrs Rao is expected to refer to the recent anti-India rally held by Jamat-ud-Dawa in Lahore where its chief Hafiz Saeed made provocative speeches inciting Pakistanis to intensify attack against the country. India is also likely to seek the progress report from Pakistan on the investigation and prosecution into the Mumbai attacks. She is also expected to seek voice samples of sevenarrested LeT operatives in connection with Mumbai attacks to be provided to India to match them with telephonic intercepts recorded by the security agencies. India has made it clear that terrorism is the focus of these talks although it was ready to discuss any issue that could yield to peace and security between the two countries.
News On AIR | February 25, 2010 11:47 AM
India, Pak Foreign Secretaries meet?