India cancelled Coast Guards talks with Pakistan: media report

NEW DELHI: India had cancelled Coast Guards dialogue with Pakistan scheduled to be held from March 6-9 in Pakistan, Indian media reports said.

Director General Indian Coast Guard, Rajendra Singh was supposed to visit Pakistan for the talks but it was scrapped in wake of the Pulwama attack, report said.

An annual dialogue between the coast guards of Pakistan and India is part of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) India and Pakistan had signed in 2005.

A hotline was also set up between the heads of Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) to exchange information on non-military maritime subjects under the agreement, media report said. The arrangement was on the lines of the hotline between the director generals of military operations of the two countries.

The last maritime talks between India and Pakistan were held after a two-year gap in May 2018. A Pakistani delegation had visited India to discuss ways to end the problems of fishermen who cross sea borders.

In the talks the officials also discussed efforts to reduce pollution and handle disasters.

India had also cancelled the annual maritime dialogue in 2017 after a military court of Pakistan awarded death sentence to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav on espionage charges.