Pak talks cricket, India CBM

The India-Pakistan dialogue process still looked fragile at the end of the two-day foreign secretary-level talks on Thursday. For, both sides followed the familiar "step-by-step approach" as there was no progress on the core issues. Jayanth Jacob reports.

The India-Pakistan dialogue process still looked fragile at the end of the two-day foreign secretary-level talks on Thursday. For, both sides followed the familiar "step-by-step approach" as there was no progress on the core issues.

Indian-Foreign-Secretary-Ranjan-Mathai-with-his-Pakistani-counterpart-Jalil-Abbas-Jilani-address-a-joint-press-conference-in-New-Delhi-AP-Photo-Manish-Swarup

Despite India pressing hard with 26/11 attack handler Abu Jundal's revelations, Pakistan foreign secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani denied the role of state actors in the carnage and again proposed a joint investigation.

New Delhi turned down the proposal and foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai later told a joint press meet: "The home minister (P Chidambaram) has addressed this question in some detail."

Chidambaram said on Wednesday: "It is no longer possible to deny that though the incident happened in Mumbai, there was a control room in Pakistan before and during the incident. Without state support, the control room could not have been established."

Both secretaries agreed, instead, on measures to promote, trade, people-to-people contact and sporting ties. Jilani called for the resumption of cricket ties, which Mathai endorsed, saying the two boards would have to take a final call on the issue.

A joint statement after the talks said, "Both sides recognised the need to strengthen existing cross-LoC CBMs (confidence-building measures) for streamlining arrangements to facilitate travel and trade across the LoC."