July 19, 2008	Saturday	Rajab 15, 1429

ISLAMABAD, July 18: Pakistan and India have agreed to expand ‘people-to-people contacts’ for Kashmiris on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC) and worked out modalities for intra-Kashmir trade and a Muzaffarabad-Srinagar truck service.

A joint statement issued at the conclusion of a meeting of the Pakistan-India Working Group on Cross-LoC CBMs on Friday said talks were held in “a cordial and constructive atmosphere”.

Both sides discussed modalities for implementing the decisions taken by their foreign ministers in their meeting on May 21 and reviewed measures to ensure effective implementation of the existing confidence-building measures, it said.

Sources in the Foreign Office and the Indian High Commission said a breakthrough had been achieved in the talks but an announcement about it would be made next week by the foreign secretaries of the two countries at their meeting in New Delhi.

“Both sides were very happy at the progress and made a lot of efforts for the success of the meeting,” they said.

The sources claimed that progress had been made on the CBMs proposed by Pakistan at a meeting between Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee. The proposals include simplifying the procedure for issuing cross-LoC travel permits, increasing the frequency of the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service, launching a postal service between the two cities and expediting the cases of inadvertent crossings of the LoC.

The two sides discussed the list of items to be allowed to be traded through the truck service. They also deliberated on ways of consolidating the existing CBMs.

The Pakistani delegation was headed by Foreign Office Director General Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry and the Indian side by External Affairs Joint Secretary T.C.A Raghavan.

Mr Raghavan also called on Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir.

APP adds from New Delhi: An official of Pakistan High Commission said the issues of Kashmir and peace and security would be on the agenda when the foreign secretaries of the two countries would meet for the fifth round of the Composite Dialogue on Monday.

He said Mr Bashir would arrive in New Delhi on Sunday for talks with his Indian counterpart Shivshankar Menon.

He will also call on L.K. Advani, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, and the Indian external affairs minister.

According to PTV, more than 4,000 passengers from Azad Kashmir travelled to occupied Kashmir through the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service since its launch on April 7, 2007, and more than 3,000 people from occupied Kashmir visited Azad Kashmir.

The number of passengers allowed on a trip of the fortnightly service has been increased from 30 to 45.