KARACHI: Pakistan has accepted India`s proposal for a small negotiating committee nominated by the two Governments to explore the possibilities of settlement of the canal water dispute, says a Press note issued on Monday [Jan 30]. ... The Government of Pakistan have also pressed on the Government of India to agree `now` that either party might avoid a stalemate by asking the International Court of Justice to decide `what is right and reasonable`. Staff correspondent [Meanwhile, as per reports from Karachi,] Pakistan has protested to India against the treatment accorded to the Indian Muslims who do not want to leave their homes in India and against the discrimination being shown by Indian Permit authorities in Pakistan in the matter of the issue of permits to Indian Muslim nationals.

The protest ... brings to the notice of the Government of India that Indian Muslims who returned to India from Pakistan on temporary permits and are not willing to go back ... after their convictions for overstay are deported physically under police escort and left on the border to proceed to Pakistan or be arrested on return.