India and Pakistan are now scheduled to meet on March 14 in Delhi to discuss the Kartarpur corridor, in which Pakistan has suggested an alternate border crossing point to the one proposed by India, external affairs ministry said on Thursday.
"We had suggested a crossing point and shared the coordinates of the crossing point. From the Pakistan side, we have received a response, where they have suggested an alternate border crossing point" said external affairs spokesperson Ravish Kumar addressing a press conference here.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson confirmed that the team from Pakistan, which was initially scheduled to visit India on March 13 to finalise the modalities for facilitating the visit of pilgrims through the Kartarpur Corridor, will now visit on March 14.
"We had also proposed to hold a technical discussion at the level of engineers and are still awaiting a response. We thought it will be in the interest of early establishment of the requisite infrastructure and finalisation of the alignment of the corridor," Kumar said.
In response to a question, Kumar said, "We proposed a certain coordinate and they have proposed a different coordinate, now when the teams meet, some kind of agreement will take place on that."
The MEA spokesperson did not divulge details about the issues that India will raise during the forthcoming first round of oral argument in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to be held on February 18.
"Since the matter is sub-judice it is not appropriate for India to state our position in public. We do not feel that this is something which should be addressed through the media," Kumar said.
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Commenting on India's stance on Uyghur Muslims in China, Kumar said, "Normally, it is not our practice to comment on matters pertaining to internal affairs of another country. I might add here that on the contrary, Pakistan and its leadership have this compulsive habit. I would, therefore, suggest that Pakistan may be asked this question as they have been commenting on the status of minorities in India and have meddled in the internal affairs of its neighbours."
He said that India is closely following the developments related to the peace and reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan and is also "active and in very regular contact with all other players, stakeholders including Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia".
Kumar said the visit of Special US Envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, to India last month provided a platform for India and the US to share their perception about the situation.