NEW DELHI, 5 August 2004 — India and Pakistan, divided by decades of hostility but trying to forge peace, agreed yesterday to boost ties between their people but stopped short of publicizing details at the end of two days of talks.
Analysts said any pact on promoting greater people-to-people contact, one of the few areas of concrete progress in a bid for amity between the nuclear-armed neighbors, was likely to be announced by the two foreign ministers who are due to review the peace process early next month.
“Both sides made wide-ranging proposals for promoting friendly exchanges and cooperation in the fields of art, culture, archaeology, education, science and technology, youth affairs and sports, media and tourism,” a joint statement said. “Implementation of the programs would be undertaken through mutual coordination,” it said. “Both sides agreed to address the humanitarian issues concerning civilian prisoners and fishermen in each other’s custody,” the statement added.
The latest talks, led by bureaucrats heading the culture ministries in the two countries, were part of a series of meetings between the two sides to address disputes that include trade, a row over river waters and a disputed maritime boundary.
The neighbors are due to hold talks today to try and end a face-off between their troops on the Siachen Glacier in northern Kashmir, the world’s highest battlefield. Any progress on these disputes was likely to be publicized by political leaders, said Uday Bhaskar, deputy director at New Delhi’s Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses.
“Moreover, these issues have a long lead time,” Bhaskar told Reuters. “There is a lot of interest in these issues now but you can’t push it beyond a point. “Considering India and Pakistan are holding talks after such a long gap, after such bitterness, there will be lot of suspicion. The story won’t move quickly,” he said. Ties between the people of India and Pakistan have warmed immensely this year after thousands of Indians went across the border to watch a historic tour by their cricket team, barely two years after the two countries came close to a fourth war.
Many fans said they were bowled over by Pakistani hospitality, generating further interest on both sides to bridge a divide that was created when the subcontinent was partitioned at the end of British colonial rule in 1947.
Yesterday’s statement said the two countries also discussed easing visa restrictions that have kept apart thousands of families separated by the partition. Analysts however say much of the peace process will remain hostage to progress over resolving the Kashmir dispute, at the heart of enmity between the two sides and cause of two of the three wars fought so far.
