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The Pakistan government on Tuesday, dropped a representative from the interior ministry from its delegation for the foreign secretary-level talks with India after New Delhi reportedly said the team should comprise only officials of the foreign ministry, diplomatic sources said.
The Pakistani side was keen to include an expert on water issues as it wanted to discuss differences over the sharing of river waters during the talks between the foreign secretaries in New Delhi on February 25, the diplomatic sources told PTI.
On learning that the delegation accompanying Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir should consist only of officials of the foreign ministry, the Pakistani side dropped a representative from the interior ministry who was to have been the point man for discussions on the probe into the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the sources said.Bashir will now be accompanied by a seven-member delegation from the Foreign Office, including senior officials dealing with India, the South Asia region and strategic planning. Bashir and the delegation will fly to New Delhi on Wednesday.
Pakistan was keen to bring up differences over the sharing of river waters during the February 25 talks, the first formal bilateral contact between the two sides since the Mumbai attacks, as the issue has emerged as a significant irritant between New Delhi and Islamabad. On the other hand, India was keen to discuss Pakistan's probe into the Mumbai attacks and the steps being taken to prosecute those who have been arrested for planning and executing the assault, including Lashker-e-Tayiba operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi.
The website of the Dawn newspaper quoted Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit as acknowledging that the delegation for the February 25 talks had been changed. He, however, denied that the changes were forced by India. India and Pakistan have taken divergent positions on the upcoming talks. Indian leaders have insisted that the parleys will focus on terrorism and security-related issues.
On the other hand, Pakistan has been saying the talks should cover all outstanding issues, including Kashmir, and lead to the full-fledged resumption of the composite dialogue, which has been stalled since the Mumbai attack. The diplomatic sources also said that Pakistan intends to gauge during the February 25 meeting whether India intends to move away from the format of the composite dialogue for future talks.India rejects Pak media reports on alteration of delegates
Meanwhile, India termed as "absolutely baseless" and "factually incorrect" Pakistani media reports that at India's instance there was an alteration in the delegation coming for the talks. In a statement issued by the the External Affairs Ministry on Tuesday night, the official spokesperson "categorically rejected" such reports, saying "they were factually incorrect and absolutely baseless".
A news item appearing in Pakistani daily 'Dawn' claimed that a day before the Indo-Pak talks "India forced Pakistan to alter its delegation virtually defeating Islamabad's desire for meaningful and purposeful negotiations". The news item also claimed that "representatives from Pakistan's interior, water and power ministries would no longer be accompanying the delegation led by Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir for the February 25 meeting".