NEW DELHI, 6 September 2004 — India and Pakistan yesterday agreed on a series of confidence-building measures (CBMs), including talks on starting a bus service between the divided parts of Kashmir, in a bid to normalize ties.
The agreement on the CBMs was reached at remarkably rancor-free talks yesterday between their foreign ministers — K. Natwar Singh and Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri — with both sides describing the discussions in positive terms.
Exact details of the CBMs are expected to be announced today, at the conclusion of the two-day talks between Singh and Kasuri.
“The meetings were held in a friendly, cordial, affable and constructive atmosphere,” said a joint statement issued Sunday at the end of the first day of talks.
“The talks were very positive, forward-looking. There was absolutely no rancor,” a senior Indian official said.
“Obviously, they want to carry the process forward,” he said, noting there was no reference to Jammu and Kashmir in the talks.
He said the main part of the talks was over. “Now we have to see how we can put all these (agreements) together.”
Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan told reporters: “As far as Pakistan is concerned, we are for sustaining the dialogue, which should be result-oriented and meaningful.” Indian sources indicated that besides official-level talks on starting a bus service between Srinagar, summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, and Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir, the two sides agreed to discuss other CBMs.
They include a train service between Rajasthan and Sindh province, more people-to-people exchanges by liberalizing the visa regime and certain military CBMs.
“The two ministers met on a one-on-one basis for over an hour followed by delegation-level talks,” the statement said.
The two-day talks are aimed at reviewing the progress of the composite dialogue process the two countries initiated in January and to explore ways and means of carrying it forward.
The statement said the two ministers reviewed the recommendations of their foreign secretaries, who met here Saturday, and “assessed positively” the results of the meetings in the first round of the composite dialogue that concluded in August.
The eight-point dialogue was revived after a gap of six years following a landmark agreement between then Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad in January.
The subjects included Jammu and Kashmir, the military standoff on Siachen, the Himalayan glacier that is the world’s highest battlefield, differences over navigation rights in a reservoir in Kashmir and demarcation of the maritime boundary in a muddy estuary that separates Gujarat from Pakistan’s Sindh Province.
Singh and Kasuri are meeting for the fourth time since June, the first three meetings having taken place on the sidelines of international conferences. The personal rapport they had developed was evident from the way they walked hand-in-hand into Hyderabad House, where the talks were held.
Speaking to reporters briefly, both said friendly relations between the two neighbors were in the interest of both countries.
“I have come with a positive frame of mind. We will review progress on all items of the composite dialogue process,” said Kasuri. “We are not unifocal. Let me clarify that. We are ready to discuss all issues. “Good relations with India are in the interest of Pakistan and we hope India also thinks likewise,” he said.
There was a sour note Saturday when New Delhi expressed disappointment over Kasuri’s statement in Islamabad before leaving for New Delhi, calling for the participation of Kashmiris in the bilateral dialogue.
But it was clear that neither side allowed the issue to cloud Sunday’s talks.
Indian Prime Minister Manomhan Singh had also Saturday reminded Pakistan that the dialogue could move forward only if it implemented its promise not to allow its territory to be used for terrorist activities against India.
But the Pakistani spokesman said: “Our position on this issue is well-known. We reject the allegation that there has been an increase (in cross-border terrorism).”
Kasuri, who arrived here Saturday accompanied by his wife Nasreen, will call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and National Security Adviser J.N. Dixit Monday. He will also call on Vajpayee and Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani. Kasuri also met leaders of the separatist All-Party Hurriyat Conference of Jammu and Kashmir and leaders of Left parties that lend crucial support to the Indian government.
