ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- India and Pakistan are expected to announce Monday a timetable for the resumption of bilateral talks, official sources said.
The talks may take place in May, soon after the general elections in India which are likely to be held in April, Indian and Pakistani diplomatic sources told United Press International.
The timetable for these talks may be announced after a meeting between Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Monday, the sources said.
Earlier, both India and Pakistan announced that Vajpayee and Musharraf have agreed to meet Monday, ending two years of a nerve-wrecking stalemate that brought more than a million troops to their borders last summer.
Prime Minister Vajpayee arrived in Islamabad Saturday to attend a seven-nation regional summit, setting aside objections by the hawks in his government who were urging him not to go.
This was followed Sunday by a meeting between Vajpayee and Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali after the inaugural session of a regional conference that has brought leaders from seven South Asian nations this week to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
Throughout the process the international community remained actively engaged in encouraging India and Pakistan to give peace a chance.
Both President George W. Bush and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called Musharraf urging him not to shy away from pursuing peace, diplomatic sources said.
By Sunday evening, it seemed that the thaw in relations between the two old rivals was gathering momentum. After the Jamali-Vajpayee meeting, both Indian and Pakistani spokesmen expressed hope that the peace process cannot be reversed now.
Although both sides are calling these meetings courtesy calls, the two spokesmen acknowledged that bilateral issues also were discussed in these talks and that the meetings had helped "enhance momentum" towards peace.
Neither side disclosed what they discussed in the Vajpayee-Jamali meeting. They only said that the two leaders met for 30 minutes, half of which was in private.
India, Pakistan tensions also had delayed the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation or SAARC because they are the largest nations in South Asia.
Observers say that the resumption of bilateral talks will also help SAARC in focusing on issues like poverty, economic development and in promoting regional trade.
Indian and Pakistani officials, however, say both nations are to undertake a series of confidence building measures -- or CBMs -- before direct bilateral talks could take place.
The measures would include the resumption of a train service between New Delhi and the Pakistan city of Lahore, halted more than two years ago following an increase in tensions between South Asia's two nuclear powers.
The two sides are also willing to start a bus service between Muzzaffarabad and Srinagar to open up people-to-people contacts in Kashmir, a region disputed between them since 1965.
The border in Sindh, which was closed after the 1965 war, may also be reopened.
As part of the proposed CBM package, the two nations also appear to have agreed to resume a ferry service between Karachi and Bombay. Ferries between the two port cities were also discontinued after the 1965 war.
"We hope that such contacts will lead slowly to the resumption of bilateral talks," said a senior South Asian diplomat.
But Indian sources warned that these talks will be held at the official level and both sides would wait for more improvement in bilateral relations before moving forward to direct talks between their political leaders.
India and Pakistan have already fought three wars since their independence in 1947. Two years ago, they came close to a nuclear conflict over Kashmir but were prevented by the international community from doing so.
All eyes are now focused on Vajpayee's meeting with Musharraf. Vajpayee indicated Sunday he would not discuss flashpoint issues such as Kashmir in any meetings with Pakistani leaders until formal bilateral talks resume.
India, Pakistan dispute also has prevented SAARC from taking roots but there were indications during the Islamabad summit that things may be improving now.
The seven South Asian neighbors have already agreed to create a free trade zone and to increase co-operation.
The agreement will take effect from Jan.1, 2006 in SAARC member states. Each member state would be permitted to nominate "sensitive" products on which tariffs would not be reduced.
Ahead of the Islamabad summit, SAARC ministers also reportedly agreed on measures to combat terrorism and on a social charter which would try to raise living standards in South Asia and improve access to government.
But co-operation between members is largely dependent on improved relations between India and Pakistan, observers say.
