India, Pakistan talks said ‘back on track’

ISLAMABAD - A peace process between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan is back on track but needs to make progress on their main dispute, over the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, Pakistan's foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi held talks with his Indian counterpart, Pranab Mukherjee, on their four-year-old peace process that has improved ties since the neighbours nearly went to war in 2002 but had been in a lull for more than a year because of political turmoil in Pakistan.
Mukherjee's visit is the first high-level diplomatic contact India has had with a civilian government led by the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The government took power after February polls which followed months of turmoil over President Pervez Musharraf's bid to hold on to power.
"The elected democratic government has broken that stalemate and we are back on track," said Qureshi, a senior member of Bhutto's party, referring to what he described as a "state of suspension" in dialogue.
The only new agreement to come out of the talks was on consular access to each other's detained nationals but both ministers appeared positive.
"Our interaction was very frank, very candid and very friendly and there has been spirit to move forward on both sides," Qureshi told a news conference.
Mukherjee said the main purpose of his visit had been to establish contacts with the new government and he was going home satisfied.
Despite warming ties, clashes on their Kashmir border this month, including firing on Monday that India said killed one of its soldiers, have underscored just how tenuous the improvement in relations is.
Musharraf had been the sole architect of Indian policy after he seized power in a 1999 coup but Qureshi said the government was in charge of relations with India.
The neighbours launched peace efforts in 2004 after nearly going to war a fourth time over Islamist militant attacks in India linked to the nearly 20-year revolt against Indian rule in Kashmir which Pakistan supports, at least politically.
India has accused Pakistan of arming the insurgents in Kashmir and backing militants responsible for bomb attacks in Indian cities. Pakistan denies that.
"We want dialogue"
While no one had expected a breakthrough on the dispute over Muslim-majority Kashmir, Qureshi said Pakistan wanted to see progress on the dispute that has bedeviled ties since the countries were carved out of British-ruled India in 1947.
"If we want to continue this dialogue, and definitely we want to continue this dialogue ... we have to make progress on it."
Mukherjee, citing ties between India and China, said countries could enjoy expanding economic relations while other issues, such as border disputes, remained unresolved.
"We are determined to ... ensure that nothing stands in the way of improving our relations," he said.
Qureshi said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would visit Pakistan some time this year.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mukherjee met Musharraf and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. On Tuesday he met Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower who leads the new coalition government.
Over recent years Musharraf made a range of proposals to end the Kashmir deadlock, including an offer to abandon demands for a plebiscite in Kashmir, as enshrined in U.N. resolutions, if India agreed to autonomy in its part of Kashmir.
Qureshi said the new government stood by demands for a plebiscite, but added: "Having said that, we are open to innovative ideas, ideas that can facilitate the comprehensive dialogue ... we do not have our minds shut."
Before the lull in peace efforts, they had made progress on two border disputes, one over the Siachen glacier high in the Himalayas, the other in the south, over the Sir Creek estuary.
Mukherjee said more talks were needed on Siachen while Qureshi said Pakistan had put forward a "package" of proposals on the dispute. The two sides resume talks in July. (Khaleej Times)