NEW DEHLI, Dec 7: Of the slew of issues to be sorted out between India and Pakistan, their disputes over the Siachen Glacier and the Sir Creek maritime boundary look ready to be resolved when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Islamabad early next year, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Inamul Haq said here on Friday. “These are the two issues that look ripe for resolution. They may be ready for approval by the time Prime Minister Singh visits us early next year,” he said.

Mr Haq, who was speaking to Dawn after a customary meeting with India’s Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the margins of a two-day ministerial conference of Saarc states, admitted that the overall talks between the two countries had slowed down somewhat due to the domestic circumstances of Pakistan. “And yet we are on course and I wouldn’t say anything has been derailed at all,” he added.

Dr Singh is expected to visit Pakistan soon after a new government is installed in Islamabad after the January polls. “We’ll need a month for the new administration to settle down and we can expect the prime minister to make his visit soon after that,” he said. Mr Haq’s optimism about the way ahead appeared to flow from what sources said was a positive first meeting with Mr Mukherjee.

The sources said Mr Mukherjee made two important observations. He told Mr Haq that India acknowledged Kashmir was a dispute between the two countries. He also recalled that India had applied “restraint” in its public approach to Pakistan’s domestic difficulties, particularly by not raising the issue of the state of emergency on any public forum. Mr Haq, according to the sources, acknowledged that the stance had “gone down well” with the Pakistan government.

In the bilateral issues he raised with Mr Mukherjee, the sources said, Mr Haq presented Pakistan’s known position on the Kashmir dispute and urged its speedy resolution. Mr Haq listed, according to the sources, three doables in Kashmir that India could pursue with ease. These include an improvement in human rights situation in Kashmir, demilitarisation of the region and seeking a greater involvement of Kashmiris in the peace process.

Mr Mukherjee said the issue of demilitarisation was linked to the level of violence in the valley, which had a tendency to go up and down at will. Mr Haq said the fact that a ceasefire had worked well over the past four years along the Line of Control and given that there was also an effective fence along the line, it indicated that the remaining violence was indigenous and not cross-border in any sense.Mr Haq recalled Pakistan’s position, according to the sources, offering a package of measures, which included the proposed recording of present troop positions in Siachen that should pave the way for a solution.

Mr Mukherjee, in a separate press conference related to the Saarc meeting, said India expected to resume the dialogue with Pakistan soon. The process will begin when foreign secretaries of the two countries will hold talks to wind up the fourth round of composite dialogue after formation of a new government.

“Immediately after installation of a new government in Pakistan, the foreign secretaries will complete the fourth round of composite dialogue after which we will launch the fifth round... We will have to wait till regular government is in place in Pakistan,” he said.Pointing out that bilateral relations had moved forward, including in trade, he said “normal work” between the two countries could not be carried out because of “certain circumstances” in Pakistan recently.