India set to host maritime meet with Pak

India is ready to host a meeting of the Indian Coast Guard officials and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) in April, the Times of India (TOI) reported on Monday.

The last session of talks between Pakistan and India over maritime security took place in July 2016 in Islamabad when an Indian delegation visited Pakistan for the first time after the Pathankot attack. 

Now the PMSA's visit to India next month will also be the first visit by any Pakistani security delegation following a militant attack on an Indian military base in Uri in September 2016, said the Indian newspaper.

Official Indian sources told the TOI that the two sides were finalising dates for the talks through diplomatic channels and that their meeting was likely to happen any time after the 15th next month.

The Indian Coast Guard and PMSA had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2005 which envisaged collaboration between the two through an exchange of information on exclusive economic zone violations, apprehended vessels, marine pollution, natural disasters and calamities, added the TOI report.

The agreement - extended for five years last year - sought to combat illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and piracy, smuggling and coordination in search and rescue and return sea passage. A communication link between two sides was also established in the form of a hotline which remains operational, the report said. Earlier this month, two-day talks between the Indus water commissioners of Pakistan and India also concluded in Islamabad, with New Delhi 'acknowledging' objections raised by Islamabad over the controversial hydropower projects on the Chenab River.

The 113th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission was the first since India suspended dialogue under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty following a militant attack on an Indian military base in Uri in September last year.

However, a Hindustan Times report later hinted that India may not attend a World Bank (WB) proposed secretary-level talks with Pakistan in the United States (US) during April 2017 as it finds the proposed meet against the 'spirit of the pact'.