Pakistan and India will resume their talks on maritime boundary dispute in Sir Creek today (Friday) after a gap of four years.An eight-member Indian delegation led by Surveyor General of India S Subba Rao arrived in Pakistan on Thursday for the two-day talks as part of the bilateral dialogue process that was recently revived after a gap of over two years.
The Pakistani team participating in the talks will be led by Defence Additional Secretary Rear Admiral Shah Sohail Masood. Upon its arrival, the Indian delegation was received by senior officials of Pakistan’s Defence Ministry at the Wagha border crossing on Thursday morning. The visiting delegation will also call on Defence Secretary Syed Athar Ali. It was during the last round of talks on the Sir Creek dispute four years ago that Islamabad and New Delhi made significant progress on the resolution of differences over the almost 100km-long estuary in the Rann of Kutch, which separates Indian Gujarat from Sindh.
At the time, it was said that there was agreement up to great extent over demarcating the maritime boundary based on the maps finalised in a joint survey of the area conducted in 2007. Pakistan and India had also exchanged maps of Sir Creek. Officials from both sides had agreed that unlike the dispute over Siachen glacier, a deal on the Sir Creek issue was workable and less thorny. Sir Creek talks are being held after earlier negotiations between Pakistan and India early this year, including those between the home and interior secretaries, the commerce secretaries and the water secretaries.
