Hope Indo-Pak talks will be held in Thimphu spirit: Malik

Ahead of the Foreign Secretary level talks with India, Pakistan today hoped that the meeting will be held in the "Thimphu Spirit" under which the two sides had decided to resolve all differences through dialogue.

Ahead of the Foreign Secretary level talks with India, Pakistan today hoped that the meeting will be held in the "Thimphu Spirit" under which the two sides had decided to resolve all differences through dialogue.

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"I hope the Thimphu Spirit will continue," Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik said in New Delhi while referring to the two-day talks in Islamabad beginning tomorrow.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir had met in Bhutanese capital Thimphu in February during which they decided to resume comprehensive dialogue between the two countries.

Malik said a lot of things are moving at humanitarian level between the two countries.

In this context, he said five children of Pakistani prisoners in India will be going back to their home country on Thursday. They are in the age group of 10 to 23 years.

Referring to the technical fault in a helicopter in which home minister P Chidambaram was to travel in Kashmir on Wednesday, the envoy said Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik had sent a message to him.

The message said that Rehman Malik was happy to know that Chidambaram was "safe and sound", said the High Commissioner who conveyed it to the Home Minister.

On the Indian sailors on-board MV Suez which has been released by the Somali pirates, Shahid Malik said they be sent back to India as soon as they arrive in Pakistan.

A Pakistani Naval Ship Babur is escorting the merchant vessel after it was released by the pirates last week.