India, Pakistan start talks to reduce nuke confrontation risk

A six-member Pakistani delegation led by additional secretary Tariq Usman Haider and an Indian team headed by senior foreign ministry official Sheel Kant Sharma began the talks late morning at a foreign ministry venue in New Delhi, an Indian official told AFP.

The parleys, which Pakistani foreign office spokesman Masood Khan has said would focus on "strategic stability, nuclear crisis management, risk reduction and coordinated as well as responsible stewardship", are slated to last two days.

Tap Here to Add The Daily Star As A Trusted Source

In comments after arrival in New Delhi Friday, Haider said both countries had "a responsibility as responsible nuclear states".

"... and so we have come here with a positive spirit and we look forward to a result-oriented outcome," he said.

Many observers believed the subcontinent was on the verge of a nuclear conflict when the two sides came close to their fourth war two years ago over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

The two South Asian neighbours have refused to endorse nuclear non-proliferation treaties.

Islamabad and New Delhi, however, agreed to discuss confidence-building measures and launch a dialogue after a landmark pact between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and then Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in January to resolve all issues, including the dispute over Kashmir.

Officials said the talks in Delhi were expected to take off from an agreement reached between officials of the two countries in the Pakistani city of Lahore in 1999 to "engage in bilateral consultations on security concepts and nuclear doctrines".

The agreement aimed at "developing confidence building measures in both nuclear and conventional areas."

Both countries also promised to inform each other of "any accidental, unauthorised unexplained incidents that could create a risk of a fallout with adverse consequences ... of an outbreak of a nuclear war."

The measures form part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the South Asian rivals eight months after coming out of the nuclear closet in May 1998.

A highly-placed Indian government source told AFP, a possible hotline between the nuclear command-and-control centres of the two nations would be among measures to be mooted at this weekend's meeting.

"The hotline could be in addition to a separate and dedicated communication line between the two sides," the source said.

Reports in the Indian media Saturday said the "crucial expert-level talks" were intended to remove misconceptions each side had about the other.