Officials from India and Pakistan would begin hectic rounds of parleys from Tuesday to discuss a host of issues, including bus services and aviation agreement between the two countries, ahead of the third round of Composite Dialogue process scheduled for January next year.
Officials said the two countries have planned about 30 meetings in the next three months. These include technical talks to begin truck services between two sides of the line of control as well as to commence bus services between Poonch in Jammu and Kashmir and Rawalkot in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, the officials said.
A delegation of Pakistan officials, headed by Additional Secretary of Communications Muhammad Abbad would arrive in New Delhi on Monday to hold a final round of technical talks on the proposed Amritsar-Lahore and Amritsar-Nankanasahib bus services.
Officials in Islamabad said the talks, the third on the issue, would finalise all the issues including the modalities relating to the running buses on the two routes. Pakistan was earlier hesitant to open the bus route to Nankanasahib, the birth place of Guru Nanak, but later agreed to it to facilitate Sikh pilgrims to visit the their shrines.
The Lahore-Amritsar bus service, which takes roughly about two hours was expected to improve the contacts between the two sides of Punjab and would facilitate more Indians tourists to visit Pakistan. Currently the two sides run bus services from Lahore to New Delhi and between Srinagar and Muzafarabad connecting both sides of the line of control.
Meanwhile, a delegation of Indian officials, headed by the director general of Civil Aviation would arrive in Islamabad on Monday for talks with their Pakistani counterparts from Tuesday to review the Air Services Agreement between the two countries.
The talks were expected to cover India's proposal to permit private airlines to operate and increase the flight routes between the two countries.
Currently, state-run airlines of both the countries operate flights in the Lahore-New Delhi and Karachi-Mumbai sectors. Pakistan proposes to include new routes like Chennai-Hyderabad for Pakistan International Airlines.
The dialogue process would shift into higher gear early next month as External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh would arrive in Islamabad on a three-day visit from October 3 to discuss the progress made on the second round of Composite Dialogue process as well as to attend the session of the India-Pakistan Joint Commission which is being revived after a 16 year gap.
Their meeting takes place in the aftermath of this month's meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in New York.
The Joint Commission was established in 1983 and held its last session in 1989. It so far held three sessions. Officials said the two Ministers would focus talks on preventing a "clash" between composite dialogue process and Joint Commission which have more or less the same agenda. The two countries have already agreed to begin the third round of composite dialogue from January, 2006.
Ahead of Natwar Singh's arrival, Power Minister P M Sayeed would arrive in Islamabad to take part in the SAARC Energy Ministers meeting beginning from October 1.
Meanwhile, the two sides geared up for a showdown on the Baglihar power project as the World Bank appointed neutral expert Raymond Lafitte is scheduled to begin his visit to both the countries from October 1, accompanied by the officials of both the countries before delivering a verdict on Pakistan's claim that the project violated the Indus Waters Treaty, which India denies.
