Hina to discuss peace with India on July 27

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar will visit India next week to discuss ways to make the peace process between the two countries more result-oriented.

A brief announcement from the Foreign Office Thursday said Hina Rabbani would be visiting India at the invitation of External Affairs Minister of India Shri S.M. Krishna for the Foreign Minister level talks on July 27, in New Delhi.

Hina Rabbani, who has recently been elevated to the post of a federal minister would lead the talks that would be preceded by a meeting of the Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan and India on July 26.

At a recent meeting with the Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal, Ms. Khar expressed satisfaction at the resumption of the talks and urged to make the dialogue process "uninterrupted and uninterruptable", to help build trust between two countries.

The peace process between Pakistan and India was stalled by the 2008 Mumbai attacks. However the ice was broken following a meeting between prime ministers Yusuf Raza Gilani and Manmohan Singh at Sharm-el-Sheikh in 2009, followed by the one at Bhutanese capital Thimphu on the sidelines of a Saarc summit in April 2010. The two last met at Mohali to witness the Pakistan-India cricket World Cup semi-final in March.

The two leaders expressed to resolve that dialogue was the only way forward and agreed to discuss all outstanding issues.

Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan met in Islamabad on June 23-24 and discussed Peace and Security, including CBMs; Jammu & Kashmir; and Promotion of Friendly Exchanges.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011