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Pakistan cautious on India offer
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Pakistan has given a mixed reaction to India's offer to restore air links and sporting ties as part of a new initiative to revive the stalled peace process with its nuclear-armed neighbor. Islamabad said the proposal on travel and cricket and opening more visa offices were positive steps -- but said Pakistan was disappointed at India's failure to go further by including negotiations on Kashmir. Announcing India's moves on Wednesday, Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said the measures designed to restore contacts and reunite divided families would also involve a new bus service linking the capitals of Indian- and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. He added that India's No. 2 leader would meet with the Kashmiri separatists New Delhi has shunned for 13 years. (Full story) Ties between the two bitter nuclear foes deteriorated to the brink of war last year over what India said was Pakistani support for Islamic militants carrying out terrorist attacks on Indian soil -- a charge Pakistan denies. But tensions have eased since Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee offered a "hand of friendship" to Pakistan in April. In Islamabad, a Pakistan Foreign Ministry statement said the proposals to restore travel links, sports competition and to open visa offices outside the capitals "will receive serious consideration by Pakistan." "Any proposal that is substantive and unconditional and genuinely designed to improve relations will, as always, be positive," said the statement. But it added that Islamabad was "disappointed" India has rejected Pakistan's offer "to resume substantive and sustained dialogue to resolve all issues," especially the Kashmir dispute. It urged India to reconsider its refusal to resume talks on all subjects, including Kashmir. The initiatives came as Pakistani and Indian troops traded mortar and artillery fire, killing five civilians and wounding at least eight on Pakistan's side of divided Kashmir, officials in Islamabad said Wednesday. Across the cease-fire line, India said five of its civilians, including two women, were wounded by Pakistani fire. Three suspected rebels also were killed in a gunbattle with Indian soldiers. The militants have been fighting for the northern state's independence or merger with Pakistan since 1989, an insurgency that has cost more than 63,000 lives. New Delhi has demanded that Pakistan halt cross-border militant incursions into India before it would make any major moves towards resuming full ties. On Wednesday Sinha emphasized that the "war against terrorism" would continue against the Islamic militants who are fighting against Indian control in the Himalayan territory. He said New Delhi had agreed for the first time to open negotiations with Kashmiri separatist groups. Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani will lead the talks with the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an alliance that brings together moderate Kashmiri religious and political groups. Sinha said India had proposed a new bus service between the two nation's capitals in Kashmir. This has been a major demand by Kashmiri families who have been divided for decades. India also hopes to resume bilateral sporting ties, Sinha said, which include cricket -- the national pastime in both countries. India has not played a cricket Test on Pakistan soil since 1989 while an Indian team last visited the country in 1997 to play three one-day internationals. Pakistan last played a Test series in India in 1999 but have only since played against India on the neutral grounds of England, Sharjah, Australia and South Africa. India's cricket board said the government's decision to resume sporting encounters with Pakistan was great news. (Full story) Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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