Pak-India HS-level talks likely to be postponed

TheNation Monitoring NEW DELHI - Home Secretary-level talks between Pakistan and India are unlikely to be held this month as Islamabad has not yet responded to the dates suggested by New Delhi, reported PTI on Friday. India and Pakistan had announced holding of the Home Secretary level talks in December after a bilateral meeting of PM Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit in Maldives last month. Accordingly, about a fortnight ago, India had suggested that the meeting should be held on December 22-23 but Pakistan, which will host the meeting, is yet to respond to New Delhis schedule, an Indian government official said. We dont think the meeting will take place this month. It is very likely that the talks will hold sometime in January (2012), he said. This will be the first meeting between Home Secretary RK Singh and his Pakistani counterpart K Siddique Akbar. The last Home Secretary level meeting had taken place in New Delhi in March when then Home Secretary GK Pillai held meeting with his counterpart Qamar Zaman Chaudhry.

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