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| Sunday, 26 September 2004 |
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India, Pakistan leaders to seek Kashmir settlement New York,Sept 25 (AFP) The leaders of India and Pakistan hailed a new chapter in bilateral ties following peace talks Friday in New York that included discussions on their bitter dispute over Kashmir. "I sincerely believe today is an historic day. We have made a new beginning," said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as he addressed reporters with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf after their hour long, one-on-one summit. "I feel confident that despite the difficulties on the way, I and President Musharraf will together work and succeed in writing a new chapter in the history of our two countries," he added. It was the first meeting between the two South Asian leaders since Singh became prime minister following his Congress party's surprise election victory in May. A carefully-worded joint statement read by Musharraf said the two sides had agreed to explore possible options for a peaceful negotiated settlement of the Kashmir dispute "in a sincere spirit and purposeful manner." They also agreed that all confidence building measures under discussion between their two government should be implemented in an attempt to normalise relations. The discussions, which were described as "constructive and frank," also touched on a proposed 3.5 billion pipeline designed to transfer gas from Iran to India through Pakistan. "I hope this augurs well for the future of Indo-Pakistan relations," Musharraf said after reading the joint statement, in which both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to pursuing the dialogue between the nuclear-armed rivals. Singh and Musharraf had originally planned to brief the press separately, and officials from both sides said their joint appearance and the agreement on a joint statement was a sign that the talks had gone as well as could be expected. The meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly was aimed at injecting some momentum into a peace process that has made little progress since Musharraf met with Singh's predecessor Atal Behari Vajpayee eight months ago. The attempt at a rapprochement was initiated in April 2003 when Vajpayee extended a symbolic "hand of friendship" in a speech that startled even his close aides. Past peace initiatives have generally foundered on the thorny issue of Kashmir. The Himalayan state, divided between Pakistan and India, has been the cause of two of their three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947. |
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