The two-day Indo-Pak technical-level talks to resolve the dispute over Sir Creek, scheduled to be held in Islamabad from August 23, may not take place.
"Pakistan has not received any official communication from India on the talks so far," Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam told a media briefing in Islamabad.
She said it was agreed during the last round of Defence Secretary-level talks that experts should meet on August 23 and 24 to discuss the extent and modalities for a joint survey in the Sir Creek area, a marshy area in the Gulf of Kutch.
However, reacting to Aslam's remarks, Indian diplomats in Islamabad said that New Delhi is waiting for Pakistan to suggest the dates as it is for the host to do so.
During the talks, hydrographers were expected to discuss modalities and propose options for delimiting the maritime boundary off the Gujarat coast, which is disputed by the two countries.
Asked about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks in Parliament on August 17 that India wanted more transport links between both sides of Kashmir, Aslam said: "In principle we agree. It was Pakistan, which proposed linkage and trade between each other."
"It was the President of Pakistan who said Line of Control should be made irrelevant for Kashmiris. In principle, we are in favour of increasing contacts across the LoC," she said.
However, the two countries should focus more on implementing the existing agreements, the spokesperson said.
"At the moment we have to focus on making the agreement that already is in place workable. We know that Kashmiris are complaining of complicated procedures and not being able to avail of this facility. They also want more contacts and easy travel conditions," Aslam said.
Pakistan wants the arrangements in place should be fully utilised before having additional crossing points, she said.
Aslam said the remarks made by President Pervez Musharraf during an interview to an Indian magazine that intelligence agencies of both India and Pakistan work against each other did not amount to criticising ISI.
"The President was quite clear. He was not acknowledging, as you put it and I can speak for our agencies. Basically, he was responding to question about the allegations that Pakistani agencies were behind the terrorist acts in India," she said.
"We never as a reflex action hurl accusations at others. Basically, the President was talking about a mindset and a knee jerk reaction and immediate accusations. He was saying that we should avoid that," she said.
Asked whether there was any specific proposal to work out a cooperation between ISI and RAW in view of Musharraf's remarks, she said: "Our policy is very clear. We cooperate with the international community on the basis evidence and information. We have repeatedly said if India were to share evidence with us like the other members of the international community, we will be willing to cooperate with India as well. But we can not accept baseless statements and allegations."
