Bright end to South Asia summit

Bright end to South Asia summit

Agencies, Islamabad

Nuclear giants India and Pakistan concluded a landmark summit on Tuesday with the surprise announcement they will resume dialog next month, bolstering hopes for a resolution to one of the world's most dangerous disputes.

South Asian leaders wrapped up their first summit in two years on Tuesday, a gathering that raised hopes for greater regional cooperation.

The seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) agreed to launch a free-trade area from 2006, to draw up a social charter for its 1.4 billion people and to fight terrorism.

In a show of unity at the concluding session of the three-day summit, foreign ministers linked hands after signing the three documents while their leaders looked on and applauded.

But the success of moves towards SAARC's aim of greater integration hinges on peace between India and Pakistan, its biggest members.

Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan reached a breakthrough agreement on Tuesday to open formal talks and expressed confidence about settling their dispute over Kashmir which brought them close to a fourth war two years ago.

Diplomats hailed the agreement as an important step toward ending half a century of mistrust, but cautioned that the two sides were still far apart on fundamental issues.

The agreement followed an ice-breaking meeting on Monday between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of a regional summit. It was their first meeting in more than two years.

"History has been made," Musharraf told a news conference, describing the meeting as "a good beginning".

"We have taken a big leap forward. Now we will need to sustain this leap forward through further progress."

A joint statement said the two sides had agreed to start a dialog in February, although details have to be worked out.

It said the two leaders were also confident the start of the dialog would lead to a settlement of the Kashmir dispute, the heart of rivalry between the neighbors since independence from Britain in 1947 and the cause of two of their three wars.

Musharraf paid credit to Vajpayee's "vision" and "statesmanship" which made the deal possible, and to the flexibility shown by the negotiating teams on both sides.

"There are no winners and losers," he said. "This is a victory for the world, for all peace-loving people, a victory for all the people of India and Pakistan and for the people of Kashmir who have suffered all these years."

Meanwhile, a Kashmiri separatist alliance welcomed the breakthrough. "We welcome the peace moves by the two countries. Now India and Pakistan have started seeing the people of Kashmir," said Abdul Gani Bhat, spokesman of the All Parties Hurriyat (freedom) Conference, an umbrella organization of separatist groups.

The Himalayan region has been split between India and Pakistan since just after independence and the dispute has cost tens of thousands of lives since then.

Militants and Islamic hardliners in Pakistan rejected the deal and the largest Hizbul Mujahideen group vowed to continue attacks on Indian security forces.

"We will announce a cease-fire only if India accepts Kashmir as a disputed territory, promises to resolve the problem according to wishes of its people, frees all prisoners, stops its crackdown and withdraws its army to barracks," the group's leader Syed Salahuddin told Reuters from Pakistani Kashmir.

The joint statement said Musharraf had pledged to Vajpayee he would not let Pakistan's territory be used for terrorism.

In his news conference Musharraf reiterated this, and despite two attempts on his life last month blamed on Islamic militants, vowed not to let extremists sabotage any deal.

"There will be a fallout from extremists," he said. "There are extremists on both sides who may not want peace."

"We need to move forward strongly in the direction of peace as if there are no such people existing in both countries."