Pakistan-India
Senior Pakistan and Indian diplomats Friday opened talks here on Kashmir-related confidence-building measures, officials said.

The meeting of Pakistan-India Working Group will discuss measures to facilitate travel and trade across Line of Control (LoC), which divides both countries in the disputed Kashmir region, the Foreign Ministry officials said.

The talks were earlier scheduled to be held on July 10 but were put off as an official who was to lead the Indian side has gone to Afghanistan in the wake of the suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul.

Indian and Afghan officials had blamed Pakistani intelligence agency for masterminding the suicide attack, which had killed around 70 people including three India diplomats.

Pakistan delegation is headed by Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Director General (South Asia & SAARC) while the Indian side is led by T.C.A Raghvan, Joint Secretary ( PAI), Ministry of External Affairs.

The two countries are expected to discuss new Kashmir-related CBMs during the meeting, including modalities for intra-Kashmir trade and the launch of a truck service between Srinagar in the Indian- controlled Jammu and Kashmir and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.

Lists of items to be traded through the truck service were also likely to have been discussed during the meeting.

It would also have reviewed existing bus services and measures to expand and facilitate travel between the two parts of Kashmir, the sources said.

The Working Group is meeting in pursuance of the decision taken during the Foreign Minister level review meeting of Fourth Round of Pakistan-India Composite Dialogue held on 21 May 2008.

The first meeting of the Working Group was held in New Delhi in May 2006.