India, Pakistan pledge to move forward on Kashmir

India, Pakistan pledge to move forward on Kashmir

Y.P. Rajesh
and Tahir Ikram
Reuters/New Delhi

India and Pakistan vowed to press ahead with discussions on
Kashmir on Monday after their first formal talks on the
flashpoint region in three years, boosting hopes of a lasting
peace in South Asia.

After two days of talks two years after almost coming to war,
they finalized plans to return their embassies to full strength,
reopen consulates in each other's financial capitals, release
fishermen who strayed across the border and inform each other of
missile tests.

"The talks have begun positively, it's a good beginning...we
have to move forward and we will go forward," Indian foreign
ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told a news conference.

No major breakthrough had been expected at such an early
stage. Analysts the signs were positive but the neighbors still
had a lot of hard work ahead before they could resolve the
emotional issue of Kashmir, trigger of two of their three wars.

India, which rules 45 percent of Kashmir, considers the
Muslim-majority region an integral part of its territory.

Pakistan, which holds a third, has sought the implementation
of UN resolutions for a plebiscite for Kashmiris to choose
between India and Pakistan.

"So far so good," said C. Raja Mohan, who teaches
international relations at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru
University. "They have taken one step forward. Many more steps
have to be taken."

The talks in New Delhi between the heads of the two foreign
departments -- India's Shashank, who uses only one name, and
Pakistan's Riaz Khokhar -- were the first on Kashmir since a
failed 2001 summit between the countries' leaders.

"They held a detailed exchange of views on Jammu and Kashmir
and agreed to continue the sustained and serious dialog to find a
peaceful negotiated final settlement," the two sides said in a a
statement.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan separately
told reporters: "Both sides were surefooted, they talked about
traditionally known positions, they also expressed the intent to
move forward."

The two sides said their experts would discuss details of a
range of other issues plaguing bilateral ties, including a
standoff on the Siachen Glacier, the world's highest
battleground, between the third week of July and first half of
August.

The talks were the latest step in a slow but steady peace
process that began in April last year.

Shashank and Khokhar have agreed to meet again in August,
ahead of a meeting by both foreign ministers to review progress
on the peace process.

Highlighting the stakes, at least 45 people were killed in
Kashmir in the week leading up to Sunday's opening of the talks,
amid fears the bloodshed in the Himalayan region could undermine
efforts to move forward.

"It is self-evident that the positive momentum in the peace
process should not be allowed to slow down by the shadow of
terrorism and violence," India's Sarna said.