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| Wednesday, 24 November 2004 |
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Pakistani PM due in India for talks on shaky peace NEW DELHI, Tuesday (Reuters) Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz begins talks with Indian leaders on Tuesday to keep alive a year-old peace process between the nuclear-armed neighbours that is stumbling over the dispute on Kashmir. Aziz is making a rare trip to New Delhi in his capacity as the head of a regional group, but officials and analysts said the wobbly peace process between the neighbours would dominate the two-day visit. "Naturally, he's meeting with our leadership and bilateral discussions can be expected to take place," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said. The talks will take place less than a week after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ruled out any redrawing of India's borders or a further division of Kashmir, pouring cold water over a set of proposals by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf suggested that Kashmir be de-militarised and India and Pakistan agree on a compromise over its status which could be independence, joint control or some form of U.N. control. "The peace process is currently at a low," said Kalim Bahadur, a New Delhi-based South Asian affairs expert. "One should not expect too much from the dialogue right now except that they will keep it going." On Monday, some 800 Indian soldiers pulled out of Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir state and the hotbed of a separatist revolt, as part of a phased withdrawal of troops that New Delhi hopes will boost peace prospects in the Himalayan region. Aziz said on Monday that the reduction of Indian troops in Kashmir had helped reduce tension but added he did not expect this to lead to a major breakthrough in his talks in New Delhi. "I think the fact that India has started to reduce its troops is welcome. This is from one particular area and we hope that this process will continue, particularly in the urban areas, where there is a large concentration of troops," Aziz told Reuters in an interview in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital. Experts say there are some 400,000 troops deployed in Kashmir, many on the so-called Line of Control that divides the region between India and Pakistan, and others fighting Islamic guerrillas in the hinterland of the Muslim-majority state. Aziz is scheduled to hold talks with his counterpart Singh, the powerful Italian-born leader of the ruling Congress party Sonia Gandhi, and former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, whose offer of friendship to Pakistan in 2003 led to a thaw in ties between the rivals. Aziz will also meet leaders of Kashmir's main political separatist alliance, the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, who have been urging New Delhi to allow them to travel to Pakistan to meet separatist politicians and militants based there. |
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