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.