ISLAMABAD, May 12 (IslamOnline.net) - Pakistan has proposed a meeting between the aviation authorities of Pakistan and India to work out modalities to resume flight operations between the two countries, a Pakistani spokesman said Monday, May 12.

The meeting could be the first official contact between authorities of the two countries since leaders of India and Pakistan expressed willingness to resume political dialogue to resolve several disputes between the two neighbors.

In response to the Indian Prime Minister’s announcement that he wanted friendship with Pakistan, Pakistani Premier reciprocated the Indian gesture by lifting sanctions on Pakistani flag carrier to fly to destinations in India.

Announcement on the beginning of a dialogue process however was still awaited as both the governments were busy working out modus operandi for the official talks.

According to reports carried by the local media, Pakistan is interested in kicking off the talks process with a summit meeting between the two Prime Minister while India leaders tend to start talks at the official level to avoid an Agra-like fate to the whole process.

A summit meeting between Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had broken down in Agra last year when the two leaders failed to agree on a declaration to end the meeting.

Pakistan and India had since severed air, rail and road links in the following military buildup on the borders in December that year.

Though announcement has been made to resume all the communication links, the air, rail and road traffic could not be resumed despite lapse of over 10 days.

“We are waiting for a directive from the Foreign Office before allowing our flag carrier to fly to India” a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense which governs the affairs of Pakistan International Airlines said. She said announcement by the Prime Minister have to be formalized through the foreign office before implementation of these takes place.

Earlier a Pakistan International Airlines spokesman had said it planned to start six weekly flights to India from this week following the government's decision to restore transportation links and full diplomatic ties with its South Asian neighbor. "We plan to start flights to India in a week to 10 days," a PIA official told newsmen in Karachi last Wednesday.

“The steps announce by the Prime Minister would soon be put into affect” spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said here Monday. But he said, before the flight operations commence Civil Aviation Authorities on both sides would have to meet to work the details of the operation out.

Resumption of communication links are graded as important Confidence Building Measures (CBM) between the two countries which are on the lowest ebb of their relations for over a year. In last may the two nuclear states were “very close” to a war when almost one million troops were gathered on the borders, waiting for a formal proclamation of war.