Pakistan is expected to seek the firming up of confidence-building measures during the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks with India to pave the way for progress in addressing long-standing issues like Kashmir, diplomatic sources said on Thursday.
Senior Pakistani officials have broadly classified the issues to be raised during the meeting of the two foreign secretaries in Islamabad on June 24 as outstanding issues like the Kashmir issue, humanitarian matters like the release of prisoners and fishermen, terrorism and trade and commerce, the diplomatic sources said.
The Pakistani side will press for strengthening of confidence-building measures in these areas so that the two sides can ultimately make headway in addressing issues that have bedevilled relations for many decades, the sources said.
There are indications that the Pakistani side could ask for the withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and the release of political prisoners to improve the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir when foreign secretary Salman Bashir meets his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao.
The sources also said there is a realisation at the highest levels of the foreign office of the need to lower tensions in the region while at the same time preventing any further deterioration of bilateral relations.
In this regard, the two sides are expected to discuss ways to improve cooperation in countering terrorism, the sources added.
There is a feeling in the Pakistani leadership that there is a need to upgrade the existing Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism, which was set up in 2006.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani spoke of the need to reactivate the JATM earlier this month and Pakistani officials now believe intelligence agencies should be represented in this body, the sources said. —PTI