ALMATY, 5 June — Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that the leaders of Pakistan and India have both told him that they intend to resolve their border conflict through peaceful means. "There is a desire for direct contact for both of them," said Putin after meeting Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the sidelines of a regional summit here.
"The fact that Pakistani President Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee came to Almaty and took part in this conference is already a very good signal that these leaders want to solve this conflict through peaceful means," said Putin.
"The most important thing is that both of them have decided to resolve the India-Pakistani relationship in a peaceful manner," he stressed. Putin said that he had also accepted an invitation to pay an official visit to India in December.
He said that Musharraf has further accepted an invitation to visit Russia, although no date for that meeting was announced. "I would like to underline that both sides are sending positive signals about resolving this conflict through peaceful means," Putin stressed.
Earlier in the day, Vajpayee once again rejected Pakistan’s offer of talks on their bitter dispute over Kashmir as Islamabad blamed Indian intransigence for the standoff between the nuclear rivals. Putin has volunteered to mediate the dispute at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA).
Musharraf later accused India of "continuously threatening" to attack his country while refusing to enter into talks. "India is continuously threatening Pakistan with an attack and refusing dialogue with Pakistan," Musharraf told reporters following the summit.
Musharraf told journalists that no meeting had taken place with Vajpayee. "No, I did not meet him and no I did not shake hands with him. I shook hands with him once before and I was waiting for him to reciprocate." India and Pakistan traded insults and accusations at the conference as world leaders made a last-ditch effort to bring the rivals together for face-to-face talks. Indian and Pakistani leaders sat down at the same table for the first time in five months, but publicly stuck to long-held positions over Kashmir.
"I have just finished my meeting with the president of Pakistan," Putin told Vajpayee earlier at the start of a meeting with him. "I must say that he has given a series of, in my view, serious positive signals, and I will have the pleasure in our meeting coming up to tell you about this," Putin said. Putin told Musharraf he sought a solution to end the confrontation once and for all. Vajpayee said earlier he was ready to talk to Pakistan over Kashmir but only if cross-border incursions were stopped.
