HAVANA, 17 September 2006 — Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held “historic” talks on the disputed Kashmir region yesterday, on the sidelines of a developing-world summit in Havana.

The two shook hands before starting their closed doors talks at Protocol House in Havana, near the convention center where they participated in the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement. Musharraf and Manmohan talked for about an hour, a Pakistani official said.

Musharraf had expressed optimism yesterday that the meeting could lead to a cease-fire at their common border.

“A historic opportunity like this must be seized by the leadership of the two countries to bring to a close the chapter and tension in our region,” Musharraf said Friday in his speech to the Non-Aligned Movement.

Musharraf said Pakistan is determined to resolve all its disputes with India.

Musharraf said the two countries should put their full energy into making progress on the dispute, and called for the 118-nation NAM to establish “a mechanism for conflict resolution.”

The Pakistani leader also told the NAM leaders that “our strategy must clearly oppose the sinister tendencies to equate terrorism with Islam.” On Tuesday Musharraf said in Brussels that peace was within reach in the divided region of Kashmir and challenged India to seize the opportunity to end the bloody conflict.

“I sincerely believe that today opportunity exists and it must be seized to resolve the dispute through peaceful dialogue,” he said at a conference on the disputed region at the European Parliament.

He said that improved relations between India and Pakistan, as well as a “conducive international environment,” could help improve dialogue over Kashmir if regional leaders are sincere, flexible and bold. “Leaders who cannot grasp fleeting opportunity are no leaders,” the Pakistani leader said.

Musharraf has praised Manmohan as “a man of sincerity” with “a flexible approach” and said he hoped he would show the courage needed to resolve the decades-long dispute between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

Likening the talks to a high-stakes poker game, the Pakistani president insisted in Brussels that Pakistan is “only prepared to be flexible on how to move forward” from its stance if India also plays a card.

Ahead of their talks, the Indian premier had said he would remind Musharraf of his promise to rein in militant groups like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, which are battling Indian rule over part of Kashmir.

But the president suggested he had little sway with the militants, whom he has said were “trying to kill me.”

Manmohan, in his address to the NAM leaders in Havana, did not address the Kashmir issue directly.

The Indian Prime Minister did however urge leaders of the group to take a conciliatory tone as they work to counter terrorism, which he said should be a top priority.