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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India were to launch a new round of peace talks here Tuesday focused on their dispute over Kashmir and on limiting nuclear and conventional arsenals in South Asia, officials said.
The two-day talks between Indian foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon and his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Mohammed Khan mark the fourth round since a January 2004 deal to resume negotiations after a tense military standoff.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence in 1947 over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir — also known as Jammu and Kashmir. They each hold part of the region but claim it in its entirety.
“They have two specific issues before them which they will discuss. These are Jammu and Kashmir dispute and peace and security,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said late Monday.
The three-year-old peace process has reduced mutual suspicion through a series of “confidence-building measures” including establishing transport links, but it has moved at a snail's pace.
It suffered a near-fatal blow in July 2006 when India accused Pakistan's military spy agency and Pakistan-based Islamic militants of involvement in train blasts in Mumbai which killed 186 people.
Yet India and Pakistan pushed ahead with a meeting of their foreign ministers last month after the firebombing of a “Friendship Express” train running between the two countries.
In an echo of previous Pakistani statements urging India to take a more proactive approach, Aslam said it was “important” to move forward on the Kashmir issue from confidence-building measures to actual dispute resolution.
“We believe that an early resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir issue will pave the way for durable peace in this region and bring about greater cooperation in South Asia,” she said.
Meanwhile Aslam said Pakistan had made proposals concerning the nuclear and conventional military balance between the neighbours, who conducted tit-for-tat atomic weapon tests in May 1998 and still test-fire missiles.
The countries are also expected to finalise agreements on the rapid return of inadvertent border crossers, the relaxation of visa rules and meetings between border officials, Aslam said.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told lawmakers Thursday peace talks with Pakistan had brought “positive results.”
The two countries earlier this month held their first meeting of a panel set up to fight terrorism jointly and agreed to share information.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars since independence in 1947 and massed troops at the border in 2002 after militants attacked the Indian parliament. India blamed the attack on Pakistan-backed insurgents opposed to New Delhi's rule in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir.
