High-level delegation from Pakistan arrives in India for talks on border situation

A high-level delegation from Pakistan crossed over into India on Wednesday at the Attari-Wagah joint check post in the northwest state Punjab for director-level talks between border forces of both countries, said local media.

Led by Pakistan Rangers' Director General, Maj.Gen. Umar Farooq Burki, the 16-member delegation was welcomed by senior Border Security Force (BSF) officers in Attari on Wednesday, said Indo- Asian News Service.

The delegation later left on a special aircraft for New Delhi where the four-day talks would take place, said the report.

The talks between the director generals of India's BSF and Pakistan Rangers got underway despite heightened tension between both countries over the situation in Kashmir.

Mortar shelling and firing have been continuing along the border and line-of-control in Kashmir between the border forces of the two countries.

Key issues to be discussed by Indian and Pakistani officers will include repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistan forces and cross-border infiltration of militants into Indian-controlled Kashmir, said Indian officials.

Pakistan is also reported to be seeking revival of the international monitoring of violations in Kashmir, after India has stopped inviting UN officials to watch situation in Kashmir.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif agreed to hold the talks when they met on July 10 in the Russian city of Ufa on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Summit, after a gap of 18-month of such talks.

India and Pakistan failed to hold a planned meeting of the two nations' national security advisers last month, after Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit invited Kashmir's separatist leaders ahead of the talks.

Source: XINHUA