Pak envoy meets Indian Foreign Secretary - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Shahid Malik, held an hour-long meeting with Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao today here. Sources told ANI that it was a preparatory meeting for the February 25 foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan. Malik was accompanied by his deputy Rifat Masood. India and Pakistan are in the process of formulating agenda for the talks, which are taking place in the backdrop Saturday's bomb blast at the German Bakery in Pune. It is believed that the incident was the handiwork of the Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e- Taiba (Al Alami). New Delhi is insisting that terrorism should remain at the core of the talks, while Islamabad wants to include other key issues like Kashmir and the waters dispute into the formal dialogue. Malik is expected to meet Rao tomorrow again. Both sides are yet to decide on the final structure of talks. There is a possibility that the talks will take place without a specific agenda. Rao had taken the initiative to call her Pakistan counterpart Salman Bashir a couple of weeks back to start the talks process.