NEW DELHI, 24 November 2004 — India and Pakistan yesterday decided to continue talks to improve their relations. New Delhi described a meeting visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz held with India’s External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh as “very positive and forward looking”.
Navtej Sarna, India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesman, told reporters that the two men discussed bilateral and SAARC-related matters and agreed to work for improving relation between the two countries.
Aziz also met leader of the opposition Lal Krishna Advani and invited him to come to Pakistan. Advani accepted the invitation and said he would visit Pakistan after the winter session of Parliament ends. “We discussed ways to further improve our bilateral relations,” Advani said after the 30-minute meeting with the Pakistan prime minister.
Officials have said little about Aziz’s two-day visit, which he is making as part of a regional tour as the outgoing chairman of the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, trying to keep down expectations for any dramatic breakthroughs.
Today, Aziz’s meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to include discussions about Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan region at the root of decades of Indo-Pakistani distrust, and the goodwill gained since January as both sides eased visa restrictions, resumed diplomatic contacts, and re-launched air and rail links.
But the peace process has moved ahead only fitfully, with positive steps, such as the resumption of transport links, often offset by official statements of lingering suspicions.
Aziz will also meet Indian Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar to discuss the prospects of a $3 billion pipeline through Pakistan linking India to Iran’s massive gas fields. Many observers see the pipeline as an economic incentive that could help bring the two nations together.
“It is the first visit of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to India, and we hope it will help improve relations between Pakistan and India,” said Masood Khan, spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. The biggest challenge for the leaders of the neighbors is to “find such a solution for (the) Kashmir issue which is acceptable to Pakistan, India and the Kashmiris,” Khan said.
Aziz is heading a high-level delegation comprising ministers of petroleum, railways, water and power besides ministers of state for foreign affairs, overseas Pakistanis and culture, sports and youth. Three senators and seven National Assembly members are also accompanying Aziz who was warmly received by Natwar at the Delhi airport.
— Additional input from agencies
