New Delhi, August 17,
The Indo-Pakistan official level talks will be resumed here to-morrow in an atmosphere of greater hope with both sides expressing cautious optimism about the outcome of these fateful negotiations which hold the key to peace and stability in the sub-continent. The leaders of the Pakistan delegation, Mr. Aziz Ahmed, said on his arrival this afternoon that he had come to Delhi on a mission of peace, fully conscious of the need to resolve the outstanding problems in the spirit of the Simla agreement.
He welcomed the approach of the Indo-Bangladesh Joint Declaration in delinking the humanitarian problems from political issues, maintained that considerable progress was made at the talks in Rawalpindi and hoped that an agreement would be reached during this visit to Delhi. But he drew a subtle distinction between the intensely “human” problem of POW reparations and other humanitarian issues set out in the Indo-Bangla declaration. The Prime Minister’s special envoy, Mr. P. N. Haksar, who is representing India at these talks, flew back from Dacca in time to welcome Mr. Aziz Ahmed and his colleagues.
