India and Pakistan will hold talks on Kashmir-related confidence-building measures in Islamabad on July 18 after the parleys were deferred earlier this month following the suicide attack on New Delhi's embassy in Kabul, officials said on Sunday.
The meeting of the working group on cross-Line of Control CBMs, earlier scheduled to be held on July 10, was postponed as Joint Secretary T C A Raghavan, who was to lead the Indian delegation, rushed to the Afghan capital after the suicide attack on the Indian embassy there on Monday last that killed 58 people.
The Director General (South Asia) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will lead Pakistan's delegation. Representatives of various ministries of both countries will also participate in the talks, officials said.
The working group will meet before talks between the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan in New Delhi during July 21-22 to launch the fifth round of the composite dialogue.
The two countries are expected to discuss new Kashmir-related CBMs during the meeting, including modalities for intra-Kashmir trade and the launch of a truck service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Lists of items to be traded through the truck service will also be discussed during the meeting. It will also review existing bus services and measures to expand and facilitate travel between the two parts of Kashmir, sources said.
The first meeting of the working group was held in New Delhi in May 2006.
