India and Pakistan vow peace, but no Kashmir breakthrough<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Roche, Agence France-Presse, New Delhi<\/p>\n
Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan agreed on Monday on an
\narray of measures to promote peace in South Asia but remained far
\napart on their key dispute -- the future of divided Kashmir.<\/p>\n
Indian foreign minister Natwar Singh and his Pakistani
\ncounterpart Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said they would prolong a
\ncease-fire in force along a military line dividing their armies
\nin Kashmir.<\/p>\n
However, the progress they reported was largely on peripheral
\nissues while on Kashmir -- the spark of two of their three wars
\n-- they repeated long-held differences.<\/p>\n
Still, both men sought to highlight achievements of the
\nmeeting -- the fruit of a peace process launched in January after
\nthe two countries had stepped back from the brink of a fourth war
\nin 2002.<\/p>\n
\"Even modest progress is worthy of respect,\" Singh told a
\njoint news conference. \"India is committed to deepen and widen
\nthis engagement with Pakistan in order to resolve all issues and
\nto build a durable structure of peace and stability in South
\nAsia.\"<\/p>\n
Kasuri also struck a positive note, saying \"the sky's the
\nlimit\" if both sides worked together.<\/p>\n
\"I do not believe (the problems) are intractable ... given the
\npolitical will, they can be resolved and they should be resolved.
\nThat is a major guarantee for a durable peace in South Asia.\"<\/p>\n
But he renewed Pakistan's charges about human rights abuses by
\nIndian security forces in Kashmir, accusations denied by New
\nDelhi. And he said he had \"emphasized the centrality\" of
\nresolving the dispute over Kashmir which both nations hold in
\npart but claim in full.<\/p>\n
\"We are all aware of what has been the cause of the perpetual
\ntensions between our two countries,\" Kasuri said.<\/p>\n
Singh said the issue of militants slipping across the border
\ninto Indian-administered Kashmir, where a revolt has raged
\nagainst Indian rule since 1989, \"remains a serious concern\" for
\nNew Delhi.<\/p>\n
India has accused Pakistan of failing to honor a pledge to
\nhalt the use of its soil for militant attacks, a charge Pakistan
\nrejects.<\/p>\n
The foreign ministers' meeting was due to be followed by talks
\nbetween Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime
\nMinister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of a UN meeting in New
\nYork later this month.<\/p>\n
The ministers agreed to speed up opening consulates in India's
\ncommercial capital Bombay and Pakistan's port city of Karachi and
\nto discuss conventional and nuclear weapons confidence-building
\nmeasures.<\/p>\n
They also agreed to hold talks in October-November on
\nreopening a railway between India's Rajasthan state and Sind
\nprovince in Pakistan, closed since a 1965 war. But in a sign of
\nproblems bedeviling the peace process, they made no mention of a
\nlong-awaited bus service between the two parts of divided
\nKashmir.<\/p>\n
The link would help reunite families wrenched apart when the
\nsubcontinent was split at independence from Britain in 1947 into
\nmainly Muslim Pakistan and majority Hindu India. The two
\ncountries have been at odds over which travel documents the bus
\npassengers should use.<\/p>\n
Kasuri said Kashmir's future would have to be eventually
\naddressed.<\/p>\n
\"In the past we've seen areas where we have reached a pretty
\ngood level of relationship and then we've seen things when they
\nhave deteriorated to wars,\" he said. \"So it's pure logic that in
\norder to ensure durable peace in South Asia this issue will also
\nbe resolved sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n
India has said all bilateral issues must be settled to ensure
\na lasting peace and talks should not focus only on Kashmir.
\nPakistan sees all other issues as secondary to the dispute over
\nthe Himalayan territory.<\/p>\n
Analysts said they were not surprised at the meeting's
\noutcome.<\/p>\n
\"There were no great expectations from the talks,\" said Raja
\nMohan, professor of international relations at Jawaharlal Nehru
\nUniversity.<\/p>\n
\"The reiteration of positions on terrorism by India and human
\nrights by Pakistan is not a negative thing. If the two sides can
\nimplement the agreements they've reached, it will be tangible
\nprogress\" in improving ties.<\/p>\n
The countries began low-level talks in January after India's
\nthen-premier Atal Behari Vajpayee said he would make one last
\npush for peace in 2003.<\/p>\n
But the process lost some steam since India's Congress party
\nwas elected in May, ousting Vajpayee's government, and the tone
\nof exchanges has become more strident.<\/p>\n
The Kashmir insurrection against Indian rule has cost over
\n40,000 lives by official count.<\/p>",
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