India and Pakistan could break the ice in Colombo

India and Pakistan could break the ice in Colombo

NEW DELHI (AFP): The foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan could meet for the first time in two years on the sidelines of a conference next month, an Indian official said on Sunday.

Indian Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer will be in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo for a meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), which will take place on June 8 and 9, Indian foreign ministry spokesman R.S Jassal said.

Formed in 1985 at New Delhi's initiative, SAARC groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Its activities have been paralyzed due to India-Pakistan bickering. Sri Lanka holds the current chairmanship of SAARC and is due to hand it over to Nepal.

"It is not unusual that during a standing committee meeting of SAARC, we have separate meetings on a bilateral level," Jassal said.

However, he added New Delhi had not so far received any formal request for a meeting from Islamabad. "As in the past, when we receive such a request it will be given due consideration," he said.

If the meeting between Iyer and her Pakistani counterpart Inamul Haq is confirmed, it would be the first between the two sides in more than two years.

All bilateral contacts have been frozen since India and Pakistan fought a border conflict in Kashmir's Kargil sector in May-July 1999, which left 1,000 combatants dead on both sides.

Pakistani leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf has said repeatedly he was willing to meet Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

However, the Indian side has refused any high-level meeting saying Islamabad should first stop aiding "cross-border terrorism" in Kashmir.

Last week, India's chief negotiator on Kashmir K.C. Pant said New Delhi was "not averse" to including Pakistan in a "graduated peace process" on Kashmir, provided it initiated measures "that would facilitate the process".

Indian newspapers have speculated that the foreign secretaries' meeting in Colombo could pave the way for a summit of SAARC countries' heads of state or government later this year in Nepal.

"No decision has been taken for a meeting at the political level after the Colombo meeting," Jassal insisted.

The SAARC charter stipulates that a meeting of the heads of the seven countries should take place every year. It also adds that all decisions within the grouping are reached through mutual consensus.

In the past two years, there have been no high-level meeting of SAARC despite prodding by smaller members.

Indian analysts are divided over whether a meeting between Pakistani and Indian foreign secretaries will inject new momentum into a peace initiative launched last November by New Delhi in Kashmir.

"Of course the two foreign secretaries will meet," said Brahma Chellany, an analyst with the Center for Policy Research. "But it will be a public relations exercise."

C. Uday Bhaskar, deputy director of the Delhi-based Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses, disagreed. "Any contact between the foreign secretaries will have an impact on the larger Kashmir issue."

Muslim-majority Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan in 1947 but remains claimed by both. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir. Part of the population of the troubled Himalayan region favors total independence.

New Delhi last month invited Kashmiri groups for peace talks but the response has been poor so far.

Pakistan-based Islamic militant groups as well as Kashmir's main political separatist alliance, the All Party Hurriyat Conference, have demanded Islamabad should be included in peace negotiations.

According to Bhaskar, India's decision to send its foreign secretary to Colombo will stem criticism that New Delhi has been stalling SAARC's activities.

"It will be like killing two birds with one stone. Foreign Secretary Iyer's visit will prove that India is not stalling the SAARC process and also provide an opportunity for contact with Pakistan."

Meanwhile, the Indian and Pakistani governments have given the go-ahead for a meeting between businessmen of both sides this week in Islamabad. The delegations will also meet ambassadors of SAARC countries.