By KUNA,
Islamabad : At the beginning of fourth round of Indo-Pak Composite Dialogue Process (CDP), Pakistan Tuesday announced to release hundreds of Indian civilian prisoners and fishermen as a good will gesture and to create conducive environment ahead of talks, a first since the change of government in Islamabad.
Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee heading a high-level delegation that also includes Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon arrived here Monday evening to review the fourth round of Pakistan-India CDP.
The Foreign Secretary level talks have already begun here. According to the foreign ministry statement, the talks will cover all the eight segments of the CDP that include Peace and Security, including CBMs, Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, Wullar Barrage, Terrorism and Drugs Trafficking, Economic and Commercial Cooperation, and Promotion of Friendly Exchanges.
Ahead of Secretary-level talks, the Prime Minister Advisor on Interior Ministry Affairs, Rehman Malik, told newsmen that Pakistan will release on May 24 about 96 Indian fishermen and some 300 civilian prisoners held in different jails for years as a good will gesture.
Foreign Office sources said that the two countries are also likely to sign agreements to enhance bilateral cooperation in various sectors and declaration of arrests of each other’s citizens and their early release.
The review meetings will help the two sides to assess the progress made in the Fourth Round of the eight segments of CDP and deliberate on how to address the outstanding issues in a more meaningful way, said a foreign office statement.
Sources told KUNA that the leaders of the two countries are meeting with optimism and willingness to build cooperative relations on all outstanding issues, though the core Kashmir issue is not the center of talks.