The outcome of the first round of meetings in the composite dialogue, Jammu and Kashmir, the proposed Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus and 98 other confidence building measures, it is a full agenda up for review when the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan meet here on Monday. But the one area where New Delhi will look to forge a greater understanding is conventional military CBMs.Among the several meetings on various issues, this is an area where there has not been much progress. Though both sides did come out with a joint statement after the expert-level meeting on conventional CBMs on December 15, sources pointed out that there were basic differences over approaches with Islamabad focused on issues like parity among forces.It’s learnt that the Indian delegation which included a senior official from Directorate General of Military Operations came up with some specific proposals at the expert-level meeting but none of them drew a positive response from the Pakistani side. The proposals were aimed at setting up better co-ordination among military forces, particularly in J&K.These included setting up hotlines between local commanders at crucial places along the Line of Control and international border. For instance, sources said, a hotline is feasible between the military commander in Leh and the corresponding commander of the Northern Areas on the other side. Similar hotlines could be set up between commanders at Baramullah and Murree as well as between Suchetgarh and Sialkot. Further, there could be hotlines at the level of corps commanders in J&K and their counterparts on the Pakistani side. This apart, sources said, India also suggested border meetings between local commanders every six months, particularly along the LoC, to reduce risks and remove the chance of any miscalculation.However, the Pakistani reaction was not positive to these ideas. Official sources said much distance has to be covered in this area and Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will take this up with his counterpart Riaz Khokhar during their meetings on Monday and Tuesday. From an Indian standpoint, some of these measures specifically address the issue of lowering tensions in J&K showing clearly that New Delhi is not in any manner trying to deflect the Kashmir issue. This has been Pakistan’s concern and one which India would hope to address by underlining the importance of conventional CBMs in trying to resolve this very ‘‘complex’’ issue.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already spelt out the parameters for discussion by clearly sating that apart from redrawing boundaries, New Delhi was open for talks on J&K. While this will be emphasised during the talks, sources said, Saran will also look to convince his counterpart that India is not trying to marginalise the J&K issue by underlining the importance of implementing CBMs.New Delhi has maintained that the CBMs were integral to effectively address the J&K issue. These measures, official sources said, are aimed at expanding the constituency for peace in both countries by lowering tensions and promoting greater people-to-people interaction. This, in turn, would augur well for resolving complex issues such as J&K.
