India & Pakistan Start Talking

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan began historic meetings Monday aimed at preparing the way for a sustained peace dialogue on Kashmir and other disputes that have kept the neighbors at loggerheads for decades.

The talks — the first in 2½ years — take place amid "new momentum" for peace backed by the political will of Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who agreed to resume the dialogue last month, said Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan.

"There is realization in India and Pakistan that war is not an option, that you have to look at ways to find peaceful resolution of the outstanding disputes between the two countries," Khan said. "There's new momentum, this momentum must be maintained."

Jalil Abbas Jilani, a director-general in Pakistan's Foreign Ministry, and Arun Kumar Singh, a joint secretary in India's External Affairs Ministry, shook hands and smiled before the start of the Monday meeting.

The talks run through Wednesday, culminating in a meeting between the countries' foreign secretaries — one level below foreign minister.

The talks represent the first real test of the two sides' willingness to show flexibility on long-entrenched positions, such as the disputed Kashmir region — the cause of two of the countries' three wars since their 1947 independence.

Khan said the meeting took place in a "cordial atmosphere and constructive manner."

"Both sides expressed satisfaction over the progress made on the first day," he said.

The "composite dialogue" — addressing all issues including Kashmir — between the countries was first agreed to in 1997, and Vajpayee and Musharraf agreed to resume the talks during a January meeting in Islamabad on the fringes of a regional summit. The two leaders previously met for a failed peace summit in July 2001 in Agra, India.

Vajpayee agreed to discuss Kashmir while Musharraf promised not to support terrorism in Pakistani territory directed against India. India accuses Pakistan of training and arming Islamic guerrillas fighting for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with Pakistan, a charge Pakistan denies.

In New Delhi, India's External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha expressed hope for the talks' success.

"I am quite optimistic over the outcome of this round of talks," which he noted would deal with the future agenda, timeframe and level of officials involved for later meetings, Press Trust of India news agency reported. He ruled out any mediation by a third country to settle India's disputes with Pakistan.

A "line of control" divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, but both claim the territory in its entirety. More than 65,000 people have been killed in an insurgency that has raged in India-controlled portions of the territory since 1989.

In the latest violence, suspected separatist rebels shot and killed a local politician Monday as he stood on a roadside in Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state, police said.

Two police officers nearby raced to the scene and opened fire on the assailants. One officer was killed and the other wounded as the attackers retaliated before escaping.

Meanwhile, in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, more than 500 people Monday from a political group seeking Kashmir's independence blocked a main street for nearly two hours to protest the Pakistan-India talks.

"These negotiations are being held to end the Kashmiris' struggle," said Ghulam Nabi War, a Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front leader. "The two countries are not interested in people of Kashmir. They don't respect their wishes."

After coming close to fighting a fourth war in 2002, India and Pakistan have moved to restore transport links and diplomatic ties. Soldiers in November halted cross-border firing in Kashmir.

India is also set to embark on its first cricket tour of Pakistan since 1989 — a breakthrough for the two cricket-crazy nations.

With national elections due in India in April, no major decisions are expected by Vajpayee's government during this round of talks. However, Vajpayee is expected to stay in power and pursue the peace process.
By Ashok Sharma