India and Pakistan to resume wide range discussion

India and Pakistan have agreed to start over the suspended discussion, which was stopped after 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack. The announcement to resume the talk has recently been made by both the countries.

Reportedly, the decision to move ahead with the discussion was taken after a 90 minute meeting between Foreign Secretaries Nirupama Rao and Salman Bashir at the sideline of a South Asian Association for Regional Corporation (SAARC) meeting in Thimphu, Bhutan.

As per report of the sources, the format of discussion of issues will remain same. Senior diplomats will deal with counter-terrorism, humanitarian issues, peace and security, the disputed region of Kashmir, water resource and regional economy.

In his statement, Mr D. Subha Chandran, the Deputy Director of New Delhi’s Institute of Peace and Conflicts Studies, said that it was like Bollywood movie and the discussion was worthless and nothing would come out of it.

Speaking to the media persons, Ms Rao said that the discussion could be made wider and other topics could be included. Ms Rao implicitly indicated that the talk could include the Afghanistan issue.
Reportedly, on the other hand Indian officials resisted to include topics like Afghanistan as it was not a topic of bilateral ties.

In a statement, Mr Tanveer Ahmed Khan, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, said that the statement had gone for far too long and if they did not talk the things would get worse only.
The decision to resume talk is being termed as Thimphu thaw.

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