Pakistan, India predict watershed year for peace
PAKISTAN: Top Indian and Pakistani diplomats said Wednesday
that 2007 could be a “watershed” year for their peace process, with real
hope of resolving their rancorous dispute over Kashmir and other issues.
Indian foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and his Pakistani
counterpart Riaz Mohammad Khan wrapped up two days of talks in Islamabad
marking the start of the fourth round of the three-year-old
negotiations.
“2007 is a critical year and can prove to be a watershed,” Khan told
a joint news conference at the Pakistani foreign ministry after the
talks between the nuclear-armed rivals.
Pakistan and India had dealt with “issues that have divided us” and
that had “made it possible that we move from problems and disputes
management to resolution of problems and disputes,” Khan said.
The fact that this part of the peace dialogue coincides with the 60th
year of India and Pakistan’s independence “underscores the need for
turning a new page in our relations,” he added.
India’s Menon said that during meetings with Pakistani Prime Minister
Shaukat Aziz and Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri late Tuesday he found
there was “clear political will on both sides to make all-round
progress.”
“We agreed that in the fourth round we anticipate that considerable
progress can be made,” he added.
The diplomats said Wednesday’s talks centred on the Himalayan
territory of Kashmir. Tuesday’s session was devoted to a review of the
previous round of talks and on general peace and security including
nuclear weapons.
India and Pakistan were “engaged in the most sustained and intensive
dialogue that they ever had” over Kashmir, Menon said.
The officials said that while they recognised the need to make
progress on a solution to the Kashmir problem, on Wednesdsay they
focused on “confidence-building measures” such as transport links
created since 2004.
Pakistan had also suggested new measures such as sports events, a
helicopter service and a postal service in Kashmir, Khan said.
He said the two countries’ defence secretaries would soon hold talks
on ending a 20-year standoff on the Siachen glacier in Kashmir — dubbed
the world’s highest battlefield.
Islamabad, Thursday, AFP |
