NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, 25 March 2006 — In an emotional speech in Punjabi, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday offered a peace, security and friendship treaty to Pakistan and sought to de-link the vexed Jammu and Kashmir dispute from other issues to take the peace process forward.

“The time has come to leave behind the animosities and the misgivings of the past and to think the unthinkable of moving together in pursuit of our common objective of getting rid of chronic poverty, ignorance and disease,” he said.

Speaking before flagging off a new bus service between Amritsar and Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, the Indian prime minister said that several initiatives could be taken without linking everything to Kashmir. “I make this offer to the people of Pakistan on this historic occasion,” he said.

“Peace is the only way forward for both countries. The solution to the Kashmir issue can be found through a pragmatic and practical approach. But every issue should not be linked to Kashmir alone,” he said.

“I am convinced we can move forward, if all concerned are willing to accept the ground realities; if all concerned take a long view of history and our destiny,” Manmohan said.

It was not immediately clear whether Manmohan was offering an umbrella treaty that would bind the two countries together, in hopes that other issues — from trade to Kashmir — could be more easily settled.

However, accepting the realities on the ground has long been a major point of contention between India and Pakistan. Pakistan has repeatedly insisted that the issue of Kashmir be resolved before other issues are addressed.

In Islamabad, Pakistan cautiously welcomed Manmohan’s overture yesterday, but stressed that there would be little movement if the Kashmir issue was not resolved.

Kashmir is the root of the tension in the region, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam, calling on India to take “bold and sincere steps to resolve the issue.”

“We believe the speech reflects many positive sentiments and a strong acknowledgement of the need to move forward on Jammu and Kashmir and other issues,” Tasnim said.

She said Islamabad had always emphasized the need for building confidence with New Delhi, “especially the Jammu and Kashmir dispute which has been at the heart of conflict, mistrust and hostility and which has bedeviled relations between the two countries for such a long time,” she said.

India made a similar offer to Pakistan in the mid-1980s, which was turned down because Islamabad wanted the dispute over Kashmir resolved first.

But Manmohan indicated that real progress could be made if areas other than Kashmir were tackled.

“It would be a mistake to link normalization of other relations with finding a solution (to Kashmir),” he said.

But Tasnim’s insistence that Kashmir remains central to a two-year-old peace process between India and Pakistan was at odds with Manmohan’s assertion that the situation could move forward independently of the issue.

Manmohan singled out Siachen glacier as an area where progress could be made.

In Kashmir, political groups urged Manmohan not to sideline the issue. “Ignoring Kashmir or treating it only as militancy problem will not benefit anyone,” said Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, the chairman of an umbrella group of political parties who advocate independence from India or a union with Pakistan. “It is a political issue and only a serious political process will resolve the situation,” he said.

The Indian prime minister also praised Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for taking “bold steps” to curb terrorism, but said more work needs to be done.

Manmohan also emphasized the importance of improving people-to-people relations.