Pakistan sees Kashmir breakthrough
The leaders of India and Pakistan discussed ways to resolve the poisonous dispute over Kashmir during their historic meeting on the sidelines of a South Asian summit, Pakistani officials said today, predicting a breakthrough in relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
The three-day summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation was winding down today, with leaders gathering for the final session to make closing statements and sign a declaration on efforts to better the lives of their people.
The seven nations represented at the conference comprise one-fifth of the world’s population, including hundreds of millions of its poorest people.
A smiling Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee shook hands with his Pakistani counterpart, Zafarullah Khan Jamali, upon arriving at the Jinnah Convention Centre in an armoured black BMW limousine for the closing session.
The summit also includes leaders from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives.
The SAARC leaders have agreed to create a free-trade zone, to update a convention against terrorism, and to adopt a social charter to tackle the endemic poverty, illiteracy and lack of women’s rights that have kept the region lagging economically behind other parts of the continent.
But the summit was overshadowed by a meeting on Monday between Vajpayee and Pakistan’s military ruler, President General Pervez Musharraf, in their first face-to-face talks since the countries nearly went to war two years ago.
Officials refused to disclose details after the one-hour meeting, cautious about jeopardising the nascent peace process by inflaming emotions.
But they spoke today of progress towards a normalisation of relations and momentum toward more talks that would have been unthinkable a year ago.
“I think the ice has melted and a breakthrough in relations with India has been achieved,” Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said. “I am hopeful that such contacts and meetings will continue in the future.”
Vajpayee and Musharraf discussed ways to resolve the standoff over Kashmir, the divided Himalayan territory that each claims as its own, a senior Pakistan official and close aide of Musharraf said.
Kashmir has been the flashpoint of two of the three wars between India and Pakistan since independence in 1947.
India’s national security adviser and foreign secretary met several Pakistani officials, including the director-general of Pakistan’s powerful spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence.
“We tried to address the Indian concerns,” the official said.
The intelligence agency has historically had close links with Islamic militants fighting Indian control over part of Kashmir. India accuses Pakistan of aiding fighters who infiltrate Indian territory to stage terror attacks. Pakistan acknowledges giving only diplomatic and moral support to the militants, which it views as freedom fighters.
A suicide attack by one militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, against India’s Parliament in December 2001 nearly triggered a war between the two countries, which mobilised a million troops along their frontier. Since April, the two countries have worked hard to ease tensions, observing a ceasefire in Kashmir and restoring full diplomatic and transportation links.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, speaking in New York, called the meetings an important step toward improving relations and said he hoped the talks would “give a new impetus to serious and sustained dialogue”.
