India, Pakistan extend Kashmir ceasefire

NEW DELHI, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- India and Pakistan Monday agreed to extend the year-long ceasefire along the border of disputed Kashmir and pledged to resolve all outstanding disputes.

India's Foreign Minister, Natwar Singh, made the announcement after two days of bilateral talks with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mohammed Kasuri in the Indian capital New Delhi.

India and Pakistan inched closer to peaceful ties by agreeing on a series of confidence-building measures, including talks on starting a bus service between the divided parts of Kashmir.

Singh and Kasuri met in New Delhi to further the peace process launched earlier this year after a hiatus of two years. A joint statement issued by the two ministers said: "The meetings were held in a friendly, cordial, affable and constructive atmosphere."

"We have made progress in the past two days. My friend, Foreign Minister Kasuri, and I have established rapport and mutual trust," Singh said.

"India is committed to deepen and widen its engagement with Pakistan in order to resolve all issues and to build a durable structure of peace and stability in South Asia free from an atmosphere of terrorism and violence," the Indian minister told reporters after the talks.

However, the two sides continue to differ on the participation of Kashmiri leaders in the talks, which India claims to be bilateral affair. Pakistan supports Kashmiri rebel leaders' demand that they be made a party to the talks.

A former leader of the All-Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference Mirwaiz Omer Farooq Sunday met with Kasuri and sought his help in involving Kashmiris in the ongoing India-Pakistan peace dialogue.

"It is an encouraging development that India and Pakistan are holding peace talks but we feel nothing would change unless the local people (of Kashmir) are involved in the peace process," Farooq said.

"You (Pakistan) and India have been talking since 1947, but all your agreements have been unsuccessful because the main party has never been taken into confidence," Farooq told Kasuri during a two-and-a-half hour meeting.

"The Hurriyat has an important role to play. They've made a lot of sacrifices and are making all possible efforts to find a solution to the problem," said Masood Khan, spokesman, Pakistan's Foreign Office.

Farooq claimed that Kasuri had assured him the time has come that the people of Kashmir should be involved in the peace process.

Farooq also called upon the two sides to allow a bus service that would allow people in the divided Kashmir to travel across the border to meet their relatives.

The two sides are exploring the possibility for a second round of a structured composite dialogue to be carried out in a time- bound framework on all issues, including Kashmir. "The chances of a second round of composite dialogue are very high," a Pakistani official involved in the talks told the Dawn daily.

The two ministers gave a bear hug to each other ahead of their talks.

"I have come with a positive frame of mind. We will review progress on all items of the composite dialogue process," Kasuri said, adding that he was not obsessed with Kashmir dispute.

"We are not unifocal. Let me clarify that. We are ready to discuss all issues," Kasuri said on his arrival in India.

"But it is a matter of pure common sense, it is a mater of historical experience that if we want to push, or if we wish to put, our relations on an even keel, we will have to tackle with the issue of Kashmir because, you know, sky is the limit once these two countries start cooperating," Kasuri said after the talks.

But, if Islamabad is unifocal about Kashmir, New Delhi is also obsessed with the alleged cross-border terrorism. New Delhi expressed its concern over the recent spurt in the alleged cross-border terrorism and infiltration and reminded Islamabad of its commitment of not allowing its territory to be used for terror against India.

Officials indicated that the two sides Sunday agreed on a series of confidence-building measures, including talks on starting a bus service between the divided parts of Kashmir.

The latest series of talks are aimed at reviewing the progress of the composite dialogue process the two countries initiated earlier this year.

The foreign ministers meeting comes three weeks ahead of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's upcoming meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Mushharaf in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

India's Leader of Opposition, L.K. Advani told Kasuri that Pakistan was not doing enough to stop cross-border terrorism. Advani said Islamabad had not taken measures to stop the activities of the Lashkar-e-Taiba in the same manner, as it had to curb those of the Al Qaida.

Saying that his government was pursuing against terrorists, Kasuri told Advani that said nothing could be achieved through mistrust.

Kashmir continues to main thorny issue between the two nuclear rivals. Both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir, a third of which is under Pakistani control while the rest is controlled by India. The two have fought two wars over Kashmir and came close to fighting another war in 2002.

However, Washington intervened and cooled down the tempers on both sides of the border.

The two sides have since been involved in a now-on now-off peace process for the last five years.

Both India and Pakistan have had new prime ministers installed over the last three months. The new leaders have separately said they would continue the peace process that has seen many confidence-building measures from both sides over the last several months.

India accuses Pakistan of fomenting and financing a 15-year separatist Islamic uprising on the Indian side of Kashmir that has killed 38,000 people. Pakistan denies the charge, but openly says it supports the "freedom struggle" of Kashmiri people.