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NEW DELHI, Jan. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- India and Pakistan Tuesday reviewed "positive developments" in bilateral ties and discussed a slew of confidence building measures, including a proposal for a rail link to Ajmer Sharif, an important Sufi shrine visited by many Pakistanis.
An Indian team headed by Foreign Secretary Shyam
Saran and the Pakistani side led by his counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan discussed
peace and security and reviewed progress made during the last two rounds of the
composite dialogue for about two-and-a-half hours.
The two sides are slated to discuss the Kashmir issue
Wednesday.
At the beginning of the two-day talks, Khan placed on
record Pakistan's appreciation of Indian assistance following the Oct. 8
earthquake.
The two sides lauded enhanced bus and rail
connectivity leading to greater people-to-people contacts that continued to spur
the peace process forward.
In this connection, India told the Pakistani side
that it intended to extend the rail link between Khokhrapar in Pakistan's Sindh
province and Munabao in India's Rajasthan state to Ajmer, Indian external
affairs ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said.
"This will greatly facilitate travel of pilgrims from
Pakistan to Ajmer," he said, adding the proposal was "appreciated" by the
Pakistani side.
A slew of confidence-building measures (CBMs) like
the Amritsar-Nankana Sahib bus, the Amritsar-Lahore bus, the Munnabao-Khokhrapar
rail link, the successful inauguration of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus, and the
opening of LoC meeting points were cited as positive achievements during the
course of the talks.
Nuclear and conventional military CBMs like the
agreement to upgrade existing communication links between the directors general
of military operations was also discussed.
The schedule and dates of meetings over the next few
months in terms of expert and technical-level talks as well as talks for the six
remaining subjects in the composite dialogue were exchanged and discussed. The
dates will be finalized Wednesday. Enditem | 
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