NEW DELHI: The Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet in Islamabad from January 1 to 3, 1994, reviving a dialogue that had remained suspended for 15 months.
A joint statement issues here and in Islamabad said the two Govemments had agreed to resume bilateral talks at the foreign Secretary level in accordance with the Shimla Agreement “During the talks, a comprehensive discussion on bilateral issues will take place. All aspects of the Jammu and Kashmir issue will be discussed,” it said. The Foreign Secretary.
J.N.Dixit, will visit Islamabad for three days at the invitation of his counterpart Shahryar Khan.
The two Foreign Secretaries, who had informally met in Cyprus in October at the time of the Commonwealth summit, agreed that the seventh round of the ongoing dialogue needed to be arranged soon. It was the Prime Minister, P.V.Narsimha Rao’s message to his Pakistani counterpart, Benazir Bhutto, on her assumption of office that set in motion the chain of events, leading to the decision to activate the official level dialogue.
Rao suggested a comprehensive dialogue on “all matters of mutual concem, including issues related to Jammu and Kashmir.” Ms.Bhutto’s reply was equally warm, but subsequent comments from Islamabad reflected misgivings about New Delhi’s bonafide. Earlier this last month, Ms.Bhutto, in an interview with The Hindu, said that her Government would find it difficult to respond positively to Rao’s offer unless India agreed to discuss the future status of Jammu and Kashmir. She wanted Kashmir as a separate item on the agenda.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 3, 1993
