11/7 fallout | No clarity on peace talks

Despite Saran and Khan promising to put foreign secy level talks back on rails, there was no decision on dates.

Despite high-level meetings in Dhaka to take stock of the state of bilateral ties, there is no clarity yet as to when the Indo-Pak composite dialogue process hit by Mumbai blasts will resume but discussions at technical level will go ahead.

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Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan met for about 90 minutes in Dhaka on Monday night on the sidelines of a SAARC meeting, but failed to agree on resumption of high-level talks.

"There was no decision on resuming the foreign secretary level talks and other high-level discussions. A decision in this regard will be taken later," sources said.

Foreign secretary level talks to review the third round of composite dialogue was proposed to be held on July 20, but it was postponed indefinitely by India after the finger of suspicion with regard to the Mumbai blasts was pointed to elements in Pakistan.

During their meeting on Monday night, Saran and Khan lay stress on the importance of the peace process and expressed commitment to pursue it.

The sources, however, said that technical level talks on various issues will go ahead as per schedule.

The two countries are scheduled to hold expert-level talks on Sir Creek later this month in Pakistan.

The technical experts will be discussing the extent and modalities of a joint survey in the Sir Creek area.