More CBMs expected during Natwar's Pakistan visit

India and Pakistan will sign agreements on pre-notification of missile tests, set up a communication link between maritime forces and consider several confidence-building measures (CBMs) during the four-day visit of External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh to Islamabad, beginning on Sunday.

Natwar Singh will begin his visit from Islamabad and is likely to go to Karachi to take a look at the consulate there. What could really be a breakthrough is India's suggestion, if it is accepted""that an extradition treaty and mutual legal assistance treaty be signed by the two countries.

This is especially important in the context of India's repeated requests for the extradition of Dawood Ibrahim and other criminals, allegedly being "harboured" by Pakistan.

Singh will also discuss with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, the revival, after 16 years, of the joint commission under which cooperation in the fields of trade, energy, telecom, security, visa and consular access to detained nationals of the respective countries will be covered.

Continued cross-border terrorism and infiltration, dismantling of the terror infrastructure in Pakistan territory will be raised by India, which is also likely to press for liberalisation of the visa regime, allowing of trade through land route and transit facility for goods.

Agreement on pre-notification of missile tests and establishing of a communication link between the Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan's Martime Security Agency, which will be signed during the visit, had been decided by the two countries at the last round of the defence secretary-level talks here recently.

On the consular issue, the two sides are expected to decide on immediate notification of detentions of nationals of the other country, providing consular access within three months and conducting verification during detention period to cut delay in deportation, official sources said in New Delhi today.

India would also pursue the proposal of allowing larger number of pilgrims to visit across the border and enlarging the number of shrines that could be visited by the devout of the other country, they said.

With an aim of encouraging cross-border tourism, New Delhi will propose tour packages for Pakistanis and enlist the tour operators from this side who could be entrusted the responsibility to promote exchanges in this area.

Projecting the tremendous trade potential existing between the two neighbours, which could convert South Asia into a dynamic economic community, India will press for its exploitation and take up the issue of transit facility for goods through Pakistan, which Islamabad has denied so far.