The Hindu : India moots coast guard phone links

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 04, 2003

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India moots coast guard phone links

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI DEC. 3 . New Delhi today presented a detailed proposal to Islamabad to set up telephone links and hold flag-meetings between the Coast Guard and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency.

The broad suggestion for such links was made to Pakistan on October 22 as part of the 12 measures announced by the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant SinhaThe Joint Secretary (Pakistan), Arun Singh, conveyed to the Pakistani Deputy High Commissioner, Munawwar Saeed Bhatty, here today that the two countries could establish a dial-up telephone link from January 1, 2004 between the Director/Deputy Director (Operations) of the Coast Guard with their counterparts in the MSA. "The communication links, which would be used on the basis of agreed reciprocity and when required, would cover matters related to humanitarian aspects concerning fishermen of both countries and issues arising out of the operational situation confronted by both agencies," an External Affairs Ministry statement said.

"Similarly, flag-meetings between (the) Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan's MSA have been proposed to be held every six months in April and September," it said, adding that Islamabad's response to the Indian proposal was now awaited. In a recent interview to this newspaper, Mr. Sinha had stated that India would continue to take the initiative to further the process of rapprochement with Pakistan.

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