Pakistani, Indian FMs push for peace talks
Pakistani, Indian FMs push for peace talks
Reuters, Islamabad
Foreign ministers from India and Pakistan met on Wednesday to
advance a fledgling peace process and discuss divided Kashmir,
the root cause of decades of hostility between the nuclear-armed
neighbors.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri held
informal talks with his Indian counterpart Natwar Singh on the
sidelines of a regional forum to discuss where the road map to
peace is leading the South Asian neighbors.
"We discussed Kashmir, the bus service and Indian-Pakistan
relations," Kasuri told reporters after a 75-minute breakfast
meeting. "There is no such issue that we did not touch."
The sides have proposed reviving a bus service linking the two
capitals of Kashmir, but talks have been delayed for months due
to differences over passenger documentation and what status to
give the militarized Line of Control dividing the region.
Singh said there had been "progress", adding that Kasuri would
travel to New Delhi for formal talks on Sept. 5 and 6. He said
the two sides aimed to reopen consulates in Pakistan's port city
of Karachi and India's Bombay as soon as possible.
But in a reference to ongoing violence in Kashmir, he added:
"We also discussed cross border terrorism and infiltration,
everything. We hope we will be able to make greater progress
after the September meeting."
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in a 15-year
insurgency by militants in India's only Muslim-majority state,
and a recent spike in attacks is causing concern in New Delhi.
Late on Tuesday, suspected Muslim rebels ambushed a police
patrol in Indian Kashmir, killing four policemen.
New Delhi blames the violence on Pakistani militants crossing
the Line of Control, but Islamabad calls the rebellion a local
"legitimate freedom struggle" against Indian rule.
While no breakthrough was expected this week, diplomats and
analysts said sustaining contact was vital to the process.
Wednesday's meeting was the third between Kasuri and Singh
since India's Congress party won a surprise victory in elections
in May.
Their talks in September will follow a series of official
negotiations on six disputes, ranging from water sharing to a
Himalayan battlefield on the Siachen Glacier.
Singh is expected to call this week on President Pervez
Musharraf, who with former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee is the main architect of a peace initiative formally
launched when the two met at a regional summit in January.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two of them over
Kashmir and one over Bangladesh, and came close to waging a
fourth in 2002 after Pakistan-based militants launched an attack
on Indian parliament.
One million troops amassed on their border, but U.S.
intervention and an olive branch extended by Vajpayee in April,
2003 pulled them back from the brink.
Since then, transport links have been restored and people-to-
people contacts encouraged, and both countries are looking at
ways of boosting economic cooperation and trade.
The new government in New Delhi has expressed interest in
pursuing a natural gas pipeline running from Iran across Pakistan
to meet India's growing energy needs, a major project held up for
years by tensions in South Asia.
Western diplomats say the thaw in relations between Pakistan
and India in the last two years offers the best chance for
lasting peace in South Asia in decades.