Remove heavy guns from LoC: Pakistan proposes to India

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Heavy artillery should be removed from the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan has suggested to India during the two-day talks being held in Islamabad on conventional and nuclear confidence building measures (CBMs), a media report said on Tuesday.

After a gap of four years, Pakistan and India Monday held talks on conventional CBMs, while discussions on nuclear CBMs were held on Tuesday.

The talks are the first formal engagement since Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in the Maldives at the SAARC summit meeting early in November.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Pakistan made the proposal on removing heavy artillery on Monday.

Islamabad suggested that artillery of greater than 120 mm be moved 30 km from the LoC. The LoC divides Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

The expert-level meeting on nuclear and conventional CBMs is being held after a gap of four years.

Y.K. Sinha, joint secretary in charge of Pakistan desk in India's external affairs ministry, is leading the Indian side at the talks on conventional CBMs. The talks on nuclear CBMs were led by Venkatesh Verma, joint secretary in charge of disarmament in India's external affairs ministry.

Munawar Saeed Bhatti, additional secretary in Pakistan's ministry of foreign affairs, heads the Pakistan delegation for both expert groups.

Pakistan and India resumed in February early this year their dialogue process that was stalled after the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attack perpetrated by Pakistani terrorists.