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Indo-Pak talks on narcotics begin
Published on Tue, May 30, 2006 at 11:35 in World section
Tags: Indo-Pak, Bilateral Talks , New Delhi
New Delhi: The Indo-Pak Home Secretary-level talks will begin from Tuesday in Islamabad and will focus on issues like terrorism and to finalise an MOU to enhance cooperation to contain drug trafficking between the two countries.
Heading an eight-member delegation, Home Secretary V K Duggal will hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Syed Kamal Shah.
The will also include the Director General Narcotics Control Bureau and senior officers from the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Ministry of External Affairs.
During the two-day talks, the two sides will also take up the issue of exchange of prisoners detained for inadvertently crossing the border and other organised crimes.
The issues of prisoners and exchange of fishermen, jailed for transgressing into territorial waters, will prominently figure in the talks between the Secretaries.
In the run-up to the talks, both sides decided to release some fishermen. India is releasing 59 Pakistani fishermen while Pakistan has announced it will release 71 Indians.
New Delhi has been concerned over the recent increase in terrorist activities and infiltration of militants from the other side of the border.
The emphasis during the talks will be on continuing the peace process and increasing people-to-people contact between the two countries.
Duggal on Monday said that he would discuss these issues with his Pakistani counterpart.
"Infiltration and terrorist activities have increased in the last one month. We have information why this activity has increased and who are responsible for it. I will discuss this matter with my counter part," he said.
Pointing at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and its Pakistani counterpart’s meeting a couple of months back after a gap of 17 years, Duggal said that he would take forward this dialogue between the two nations.
Though diplomatic, commercial, sporting and transport links between India and Pakistan have improved since their peace process started in January 2004, they have made little headway over the core issue of Kashmir.
Talks on combating terrorism and drug trafficking will be followed by a meeting on June 1 and 2 in New Delhi between culture secretaries of the two countries on promoting friendly exchanges.
The last Home Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan were held on August 30-31, 2005 in New Delhi.
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