Pakistan and India will enter into belated fifth round of composite dialogue by the middle of this year with a view to establishing visa free regime between the two countries. Diplomatic channels are hopeful that “the two countries will be able to reach at least one agreement on liberalization of visa regime that would be a landmark improvement in their ties,” said a report published in the English language daily The News. However, the talks are not expected to bring about any tangible improvement in conflict resolution that has to be ‘in tandem' with the other aspects of the composite dialogue because of the Indian stance getting tougher with the passage of time. The peace process envisages simultaneous progress on all eight issues, which are part of the agenda, ‘peace and security' and Kashmir being on the top. Highly placed diplomatic channels have indicated that Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Mennon is expected to visit Islamabad in the first week of next month to be followed by a visit by Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee in the same month. Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has no plan to visit Pakistan in the near future, as the two countries are not discussing such visit even at the preliminary level through diplomatic channel. The fourth round of dialogue has brought about remarkable achievement from the Indian point of view as the two countries have expanded their trade volume as against Pakistan's long standing policy that it would not encourage out of proportion two-way trade with India without tangible improvement on the Kashmir dispute. The peace process initiated by President Pervez Musharraf five years ago has negated this concept and ever since this new policy is being followed, as the two countries have made marked progress on many fronts except the thorny disputes of Kashmir and Siachen glacier. The fourth round has also greatly helped in enhancing the so-called people-to-people contacts and friendly and cultural exchanges. It facilitated release of prisoners from both sides and a committee of the senior judges was set up to look into the plight of the prisoners. Washington and some Western capitals are taking keen interest in the improvement of relations between the two countries but without impressing upon on India to resolve the disputes. The two main political leaders Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif have gone out of the way in expressing their desire to improve ties with India. First, Zardari hinted at putting the Kashmir issue on the backburner, saying the ties between the two countries should not be held hostage to the Kashmir issue, which should be left for future generations to resolve. __
