NEW DELHI : India and Pakistan will hold their expert-level meetings on Conventional and Nuclear Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) here tomorrow during which review of various agreements, particularly the ceasefire agreement, will be taken up.
Apart from this, the review of other agreements such as working of hotline between Directors General Military Operations of the two sides, hotline between Indian Coast Guards and Pakistan’s Maritime Agency and the 1989 agreement on prevention of airspace violations will also be taken up in the two-day-long meetings.
“In view of the recent incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistan, the issue is expected to get focus,” sources said here today.
While Y K Sinha, Additional Secretary (PAI) in the Ministry of External Affairs will head the Indian team at the meeting on conventional CBMs, D B Venkatesh Varma, Joint Secretary (D&ISA) in MEA, will lead the home side for the meeting on Nuclear CBMs.
The last expert-level meetings on Conventional and Nuclear Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) between India and Pakistan were held on December 26-27, 2011 in Islamabad.
“During their meetings in Islamabad on September 8, 2012, the External Affairs Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan had agreed that the next round would be held in the second half of December 2012,” the Ministry of External Affairs said.
In the last meeting, Pakistan had proposed to India that deployment of artillery and mortars should be done 30 kilometres away from the Line of Control. However, New Delhi had responded that these were not deployed in “offensive position”.
In nuclear CBMs meeting, the two sides are expected to explore the possibilities of expanding the scope of nuclear CBMs to include a pre-notification of cruise missile test launches. (AGENCIES)
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