Pakistan Optimistic About Progress At Talks With India

A day before foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan meet in Islamabad, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik is hopeful that there will be some progress in bilateral relations.

Speaking to Headlines Today, Shahid Malik said that he was expecting a movement forward in the Thimpu spirit. Several confidence building measures will be discussed in Islamabad.

"We expect some progress in the Thimpu spirit. Conventional and nuclear CBMs are on the table," Malik told Headlines Today.

As a goodwill gesture before the talks, India sent back six Pakistani prisoners after they were released from different jails.

All the prisoners were released at Joint Check Post of Attari international border and they crossed over to Pakistan through the land transit route on the basis of 'Emergency Travel Certificate' issued by the Delhi-based Pakistan High Commission.

They were arrested after they crossed over to Indian territory without passport and visa, officials said.

The repatriated prisoners are Mohammad Naran released from Palra jail of Bhuj in Gujarat, Mohammad Arshad released from a jail in Rajasthan, Asgar Ali released from Bikaner jail in Rajasthan, and Iqbal Sadiq, Nasir Ullah and Amjad Ali were released from three different jails of Punjab, an official at Attari border said.

Naran has spent fifteen years behind the bars in India since Pakistan was not confirming his antecedents, the official said.