ISLAMABAD – Top politicians, academics and former military officials from Pakistan and India will meet in Bangkok today for a round of Track-II parleys that will focus on issues like nuclear safety and resumption of the stalled bilateral peace process.
The two-day dialogue will be held under the auspices of the sixth conference organised by the Jinnah Institute of Pakistan and the Institute of Peace and Security of India. A statement issued by the organisers said issues on the table include the resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan and expectations from forthcoming government-level meetings, reported PTI.
The two sides will discuss the “construction of a roadmap for sustainable peace” between India and Pakistan and “the challenge of nuclear stability between the two neighbours.” They will focus on the positions of the two countries on nuclear safety and security, nuclear risk reduction measures, stability and crisis management and arms control and disarmament, and also explore possible avenues of cooperation.
The Pakistani delegation is led by senior PPP leader and former minister Sherry Rehman. She also heads the Jinnah Institute.
The delegation includes former ambassador Aziz Khan, former army chief Gen Jahangir Karamat and Sehar Tariq of Jinnah Institute. The Indian delegates are led by Maj Gen (retd) Dipankar Banerjee. Academic Amitabh Mattoo, Rear Admiral (retd) Raja Menon and former ambassador G Parthasathy are among the members of the delegation. Sherry Rehman told the media that such meetings are part of “an effort to move beyond official positions and to find a way forward.”
The previous round of parleys too was held in Bangkok in August last year and participants had called on the governments of the two countries to facilitate talks between representatives from all parts of Kashmir to find an amicable solution to the decades-old issue. There was consensus amongst participants that both sides must collaborate to facilitate the prosecution of terrorists.
The Track-II dialogue comes ahead of a meeting of the Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan on the margins of a SAARC conference in Bhutan next month.
