Pakistan on Tuesday announced the release of 17 Indian prisoners on the eve of talks with New Delhi as part of moves towards reviving peace efforts, the foreign office said on Tuesday. The Indians would be released on Wednesday at the Wagah border crossing near the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, the foreign ministry said. Hundreds of Indians and Pakistanis are languishing in prisons on both sides of the border on charges of spying or illegal entry.
The prisoners will be released ahead of the meeting between foreign secretaries of the two countries on June 24. Foreign secretary Salman Bashir will be holding talks with his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao to prepare ground for the meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries on July 15.
Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi invited his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna to Islamabad as part of a process of reconciliation between the two countries, who have fought three wars against each other in the last 60 years.
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UK Afghan envoy on long leave
age CORRESPONDENT
London
June 22: Britain’s Afghanistan policy, which is facing heightened media focus after UK toll in Afghan operations incre-ased to 301, is floundering after it was revealed that the country’s senior-most dipl-omat in Afghanistan is going on long leave. Sir Sh-erard Cowper-Coles, who was former British ambassador to Afghanistan, was special envoy to Afgha-nistan and Pakistan. He will be taking an “extended leave” of absence, the foreign office was quoted by BBC as saying. However, no reason was given for his sudden decision to go on leave and what he would be doing for that period.
“He is expected back in the autumn,” a foreign office spokeswoman said on Monday night. Sir Sherard’s “extended leave” comes just before Afghanistan conference, which will be hosted by President Hamid Karzai and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, to be held in July in Kabul.
Sir Sherard will be replaced as special representative, on a temporary basis, by Karen Pierce, the foreign office director for South Asia and Afghanistan.