India, Pak joint commission may get new lease of life

The India-Pakistan joint commission is set for another revival during external affairs minister S M Krishna's visit to Pakistan, beginning September 7.

The India-Pakistan joint commission is set for another revival during external affairs minister S M Krishna's visit to Pakistan, beginning September 7.

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The joint commission has a long and chequered history since its inception in 1983. It has met only five times since then.

The joint commission has eight technical sub-groups dealing with issues such as agriculture, health science and technology, information, tourism and environment.

Though established with an aim to improve ties between the two countries in various fields, it is yet to take off.

While the commission met for the first time in 1983, its second and third meetings took place in 1985 and 1989 respectively.

However, it was forced to enter hibernation for the next 17 years due to a host of reasons.

The two countries finally decided to reactivate the mechanism in April 2005, during the visit of then Pakistani president General Pervez Musharraf. Subsequently, when the joint commission met in Islamabad in October, they decided to hike the number of technical groups from four to eight.

"The joint commission technical groups are meeting on Thursday," a source said, adding that they would be addressed by the two ministers on Saturday.

Krishna, who will arrive in Islamabad for bilateral talks on September 7, will review the resumed dialogue process and chart out the next course with his counterpart, Hina Rabbai Khar.

Krishna will also meet Pakistan's top leadership and drop by Lahore on September 9.