India and Pakistan on Friday discussed Jammu and Kashmir during the crucial foreign secretary level talks in Islamabad, a day after Islamabad insisted that it remained the "core" issue for it.
Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, who arrived in Islamabad on Thursday on a two day visit, began talks with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir on Kashmir. The two-day talks have been divided in three segments under which the issue of peace and security, including confidence building measures, was discussed on Thursday.
After Jammu and Kashmir, the talks will be held on promotion of friendly exchanges.
On Friday, the two sides first held restricted talks in which Rao was accompanied by Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal and joint secretary (Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran) Yash Sinha, which were followed by the delegation-level parleys.
Pakistan's minister of state for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani said on Thursday evening that her country was looking for "forward movement" in the ongoing foreign secretary-level parleys, hoping that the two sides would not get caught in the status quo mode.
"What we don't want is to get caught in the status quo mode where we just reiterate our positions. Hopefully, this meting will give us more confidence to move forward," she told reporters.
{{/usCountry}}"What we don't want is to get caught in the status quo mode where we just reiterate our positions. Hopefully, this meting will give us more confidence to move forward," she told reporters.
{{/usCountry}}