ISLAMABAD, June 7: Foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India, due to meet on June 27 and 28 to resume negotiations on an agreed agenda on peace and security process and the Kashmir dialogue , would hopefully delineate all aspects and dimensions of their political-level discussions, said the Foreign Office spokesman here on Monday.

Answering questions at his weekly press briefing, Mr Masood Khan said Islamabad hoped to discover the mind of the leaders of the new Congress-led coalition government about various subjects on which there had recently been some discussions in the Indian parliament and media.

The spokesman was questioned about the 'status' of Pakistan-India relations in the context of the Musharraf-Vajpayee joint statement to initiate a composite dialogue process on contentious issues, including Kashmir, to establish peace and security.

Senior secretariat officers of the two foreign offices are due to hold technical-level talks about a week ahead of the meeting later this month between Indian External Affairs Secretary Shashank and Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar while their ministers are scheduled to meet in August.

Mr Masood Khan said that Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri who received two telephone calls from his Indian counterpart Natwar Singh last week and the latter had assured observance of 'rhetoric restraint' by the two sides as proposed by Mr Kasuri, to avoid issuing press statements on critical issues.

The spokesman said he saw no problem from the Pakistan side in giving a guarantee to India about non-disruption or interference with a proposed gas pipeline between Iran and India via Pakistan since Islamabad had already made offers for such guarantees to New Delhi over a period of about 10 years since the pipeline project was first mooted.

However, similar guarantees on supply lines from two Central Asia states to India, would require a separate collective arrangement, he said.

Answering a question about Iraq, the spokesman said that there had been no departure from Pakistan's set policy not to send troops to Iraq under the existing conditions, despite the induction of an all-Iraqi interim government in Baghdad.

Pakistan had stipulated that any decision to send troops would require a United Nations mandate, besides meeting some other conditions such as the consent of the people of Iraq and Pakistan.

However, Pakistan had conveyed to the prime minister of the interim government, its good wishes in regaining Iraq's full national sovereignty and control of its destiny as soon as possible, when Prime Minister Ilyad Allawi telephoned President General Pervez Musharraf on Saturday and sought Pakistan's good wishes in his efforts to restore order and democratic self-rule in Iraq.

The president assured every possible help and cooperation in rebuilding Iraq. The spokesman said Pakistan would extend support to the new political dispensation in Iraq in its effort to lead its people to political transition and to regain their sovereignty, end foreign occupation and live in freedom.

He said it was not only for Pakistan and Muslim counties to secure early end to Iraq's occupation and to restore its people their sovereignty, it was primarily for the countries which had participated in waging war on Iraq to help restore its sovereignty and peace and order in Iraq.

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