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Pakistan welcomes new Indian peace initiative
3/29/2006
ISLAMABAD, Mar 28 (AP): Top Indian and Pakistani officials discussed ways of increasing trade between the traditional rivals Tuesday, a day after Islamabad heralded a fresh peace initiative from New Delhi.
But Pakistan's Foreign Ministry warned Monday that a friendship treaty between the neighbors will only be possible once they have resolved their long-running territorial dispute over Kashmir. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last week offered a "treaty of peace, security and friendship" to Pakistan as a new step in a two-year-old process to bury a half-century of bitterness and war. Pakistan and India each control parts of Kashmir, but both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought two wars over it since their independence from British rule in 1947.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry on Monday welcomed Singh's overtures, but stressed that resolving the Kashmir dispute "would usher in an era of good neighborly relations between the two countries." "That environment would also be conducive to the conclusion of a treaty of friendship," spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said at a weekly news briefing.
Singh, however, said Friday that the two countries should not wait until Kashmir is resolved before normalising ties. On Tuesday, top trade officials from both sides began a second day of discussions in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, on how to increase bilateral trade, said the top bureaucrat at Pakistan's Commerce Ministry, Syed Asif Shah, who is leading the Pakistani side at the meeting.
Commerce Secretary S. N. Menon was heading the Indian delegation at the talks aimed at removing tariff and non-tariff trade barriers between the two and reviewing progress on improving shipping and aviation links.
On Monday, the Pakistani side stressed the need to reduce the cost of trade between the two countries and to price each other's products competitively, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. They also discussed the possibility of cooperation between their customs departments and an agreement on exchanging information on trade documents, laws, statistics and procedures, the statement said.
In January 2004, leaders of the two countries began a series of negotiations to resolve Kashmir and other issues. They have restored diplomatic ties, restarted severed transportation links, increased trade and eased cross-border travel. But they have made little headway on Kashmir. Aslam said Kashmir lies "at the heart" of issues between Pakistan and India.
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