NEW DELHI, 15 November 2004 — Talks with Pakistan on the dispute over Kashmir were progressing well and the two sides were working toward a mutually acceptable solution, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said yesterday .
Speaking to reporters in the southern city of Hyderabad, Manmohan ruled out any third country or party helping resolve the dispute, the Press Trust of India news agency said.
“The composite dialogue is making some progress. We are working toward achieving credible and mutually acceptable solution to all outstanding issues, including Kashmir,” he was quoted as saying.
Nuclear rivals India and Pakistan have been engaged in peace efforts — called the composite dialogue process — since April 2003 when then Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee offered a “hand of friendship” to Pakistan.
The thaw came after the two sides stood at the brink of war in 2002. A series of so-called confidence-building measures followed.
The two sides are about to enter a second round of substantive talks. Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is due in New Delhi for talks Nov. 22 and 23.
Manmohan is also scheduled to visit Indian-administered Kashmir later this week, a trip expected to boost the peace process coming days after he ordered a cut in the number of Indian troops stationed in the disputed region.
“The major reason is the reduction in infiltration largely due to the efforts of the security forces,” he said.
India says militants sneak across from Pakistan to foment a 15-year-old uprising in Indian Kashmir against New Delhi’s rule. Pakistan has pledged to stop its soil from being used for attacks against Indian targets.
“The troop reduction is an experiment that we are trying. We have taken some risk. But they are not unacceptable risks,” Manmohan told reporters.
Earlier, India’s External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh said yesterday that India was keen on continuing talks with Pakistan.
At the same time, he said that India remained concerned about cross-border terrorism. “We are hopeful that President Musharraf will stand by the commitment he made on Jan. 6, 2004. We hope that cross-border activity will cease and terrorist movement will stop,” Natwar said on the sidelines of “The Second International Law Conference.”
In Islamabad, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said yesterday the simmering Kashmir dispute would figure prominently in talks with Manmohan this month.
Aziz, who was named prime minister in August, said he was “anxiously waiting” to visit India.
He will discuss “all issues including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir with Indian leadership,” the official Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said.
Aziz is expected in India after visiting Sri Lanka and the Maldives next week as chairman of the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
Pakistan, which hosted the 12th SAARC summit in January, currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the organization.
He visited Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal in the first leg of his South Asian tour early this month. Bangladesh is to host the next summit in 2005.
“Pakistan has a principled stand on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, that it should be resolved through peaceful means according to the aspirations of Kashmiris,” APP quoted Aziz as saying on the occasion of the Eid Al Fitr festival marking the end of Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
“Pakistan is seriously engaged in the process of confidence-building measure with India to resolve all disputes and to find a durable solution to Jammu and Kashmir issue,” he said.
