NEW DELHI, 28 June 2004 — India and Pakistan yesterday discussed ways to build trust as they held formal talks here after a gap of six years. India’s Foreign Secretary Shashank and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Khokhar talked about “confidence-building measures” during a four-hour meeting.
They are to talk further today on the thorniest dispute between the two countries —conflicting claims over the Himalayan region of Kashmir
New Delhi described yesterday’s talks as “positive.”
The talks included letting a bus carry Kashmiris across the cease-fire line that divides their homeland; and reopening consulates in Bombay and Karachi, said Pakistani spokesman Masood Khan.
Both sides made “proposals aimed to increase trust and confidence and to increase better relations between the two countries,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said.
While reviewing progress of the composite dialogue process, both sides were appreciative of the work done on nuclear confidence-building measures, he said.
“We have some CBMs on table like result of expert level talks on nuclear CBMs and proposals out of that,” Sarna said.
On whether there were any “hiccups” during the talks, the Sarna said: “The meetings were conducted in a friendly, very positive and constructive atmosphere. The aim was evident — to carry this process forward. After the meeting the foreign secretary also held a lunch in honor of the visiting delegation and is hosting a dinner tonight.”
Last week, a meeting of lower level officials suggested creating a new hot line for nuclear issues — a proposal that was before the foreign secretaries for their approval, said Khan.
Khan said the foreign secretaries “will come up with a calendar of meetings for talks at other levels,” aimed at an eventual summit between the neighboring countries’ leaders.
He said the next major step would be a foreign ministers’ meeting in August, and that there’s a “a full-fledged separate agenda item to discuss economic and commercial cooperation.”
After this morning’s final session, the Pakistanis are set to meet India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and National Security Adviser J.N. Dixit, Sarna said.
The two countries haven’t held substantive talks on Kashmir since 1998.
Last November, they agreed to a cease-fire along the Line of Control, which divides Kashmir between them.
India says insurgents still cross from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir into Indian territory to commit terrorist acts. Pakistan says it does not allow terrorists on its soil, but acknowledges giving political and diplomatic support to what it calls Kashmiri freedom fighters. More than 65,000 people, mostly Muslim civilians, have been killed in the fighting.
Asked whether Pakistan had explained to India the reasons for continued infiltration, Khan said: “We owe an explanation to nobody. We don’t give explanations.”
The main Hezbul Mujahedeen militant group, which is based in Pakistan, welcomed the talks but said there would be no pause in rebel attacks. “It is good that Pakistan and India have started talking directly about Kashmir,” the group’s spokesman, Salim Hashmi, told The Associated Press in Pakistan.
“Mujahedeen are continuing their activities in Indian Kashmir,” he said. “Armed struggle is going along. There should be no condition for it to stop for the talks.”
In New Delhi, Khokhar met pro-independence Kashmiri leaders from Indian-held Kashmir on Saturday and yesterday. The leaders included Shabir Shah (JKDFP), Yasin Malik (JKLF) and Sheikh Abdul Aziz (People’s League). During the two-hour meeting yesterday, the Kashmiris emphasized the need to include people of Kashmir in talks to resolve the issue.
After the meeting, Shah told reporters, no bilateral talks could lead to a solution to the Kashmir problem, which was the bone of contention between the two countries.
Even a delegation of the European Union, which recently visited Jammu and Kashmir, favored inclusion of the people in talks, Malik said. Soon after his arrival here on Friday, Khokhar met Syed Ali Shah Geelani. He is expected to meet Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq today.
— Additional input from agencies
