New Delhi:
India has agreed to resume talks with Pakistan on water and Sir Creek, after Islamabad proposed dates last week. Sources say India has agreed in principle and the dates are now being worked out.
In January this year, the talks between the Water Secretaries of the two countries were put off following a string of clashes along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir that left two Indian soldiers dead and their bodies mutilated.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif are also expected to meet in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in the last week of September.
India started work on Tulbul project at the Wullar lake in Jammu and Kashmir in 1985 to make the Jhelum river navigable in summer. The project was stopped after Pakistan said it violated the Indus Water Treaty of 1960.
Pakistan claimed the project could be used by India to control the flow of the Jhelum, a charge denied by New Delhi.
Sir Creek, another contentious issue between the two neighbours, is an area that runs along Gujarat's border with Pakistan in the Kutch region. The area is believed to be rich in oil and gas, and has a large fishing ground.
Narendra Modi, during the last Gujarat elections, had accused the Centre of acquiescing to Pakistan on the Sir Creek issue, an allegation the Prime Minister's Office soon denied.