Musharraf: Kashmir talks this year
 |
Musharraf and Indian counterpart Vajpayee agreed to restart the peace process last month.
Story Tools
VIDEO
|
|
|
SPECIAL REPORT
|
|
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
|
Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in.
Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions.
|
|
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan and India have agreed to start dialogue on the issue of Kashmir later this year, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has announced.
Musharraf broke the news of the deal during a speech on Wednesday on the sidelines of a landmark round of peace talks between the two nations in Islamabad.
"The talks have been held now. I want to tell you that in July or August, or God willing, in May or June, the next secretary-level talks will be held, immediately after the elections in India," Musharraf said.
"The Kashmir issue will be included and in July or August, a foreign minister-level composite dialogue will be held."
The announcement gave indications of the framework for further peace negotiations between the two bitter South Asian rivals that was reached during three days of talks this week.
Describing the framework as a "basic roadmap" for the peace process, Pakistani Foreign Secretary Riaz Khohkar said he hopes it would "eventually lead to a settlement of all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan and a durable peace."
"I think it is very clear that both sides will have to approach this process with a great deal of sincerity and I have not seen otherwise," Khokhar added during a press conference after a meeting Wednesday between the two countries' foreign secretaries.
"Talks at both levels were held in a cordial and good atmosphere and I think that you can see that in these three days we have done some constructive work."
The Pakistani official, who met with Shashank, the Indian foreign secretary, read a joint statement at the end of the talks and took questions.
The Indian foreign ministry spokesman in New Delhi, Navtej Sarna, also read the joint statement but did not take questions.
There was no other reaction from New Delhi itself because top envoys were in Islamabad Wednesday and because it is an Indian national holiday called Maha Shivaratri, honoring the Hindu God of Shiva.
While it had been expected that further, more substantial, talks would be delayed until after the Indian general election, the involvement of foreign ministers would significantly boost the level of negotiations.
This week's historic discussions -- the first in over two years -- between the nuclear rivals addressed the longstanding Kashmir controversy, terrorism and a wide range of economic and trade issues, the Pakistan foreign ministry said.
Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee agreed to restart the peace process during a groundbreaking meeting in January.
For more than half a century since independence from Britain, the neighbors have been fighting over Kashmir, the mountainous territory with a Muslim majority claimed by both countries.
In recent years, the territory has been wracked by a bloody insurgency. There were fears the two countries were on the brink of full-scale war during a tense standoff and military buildup sparked by a militant attack on Parliament in New Delhi in December 2001.
But in late 2003, tensions began to ease, and a two-month-old cease-fire between the two armies along the Line of Control has already helped improve the atmosphere. The Line of Control divides the sections of Kashmir administered by India and Pakistan.
The last peace talks between the two countries were held in July 2001 in Agra, India. That summit floundered on the Kashmir issue and yielded no joint declaration, just a statement of intent for peace and prosperity in the region for the future.
