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India, Pakistan pitch in for anti-terror fight, economic diplomacy

	May 26, 2008

Pushing economic diplomacy to the forefront, India and Pakistan on May 21 agreed to jointly combat terrorism and "to pick a stake in each other's economic development" and signed a pact on the release of their nationals imprisoned in either country.



The two sides formally concluded the fourth round of the Composite Dialogue after review by their Foreign Ministers and Foreign Secretaries and underlined political will and determination to resolve all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir.



External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee concluded the review with his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, on a positive note, with both reiterating their resolve to strengthen the four-year-old peace process between the two sides.



Pakistan called for a "grand reconciliation" on the Kashmir issue and said it was open to innovative proposals on the decades-old dispute.



In reply, Mukherjee said cautiously: "We are determined to resolve all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir."



The two countries decided to strengthen their anti-terror mechanism and announced that its next meeting will be held in June ahead of the launch of the fifth round of the Composite Dialogue in the middle of July.



"We reaffirm our determination not to let terrorism impede the peace process and to take all necessary steps to eliminate this scourge against humanity," a joint statement said at the end of the talks held in Islamabad.



The talks were held in "friendly and constructive atmosphere" and stressed confidence-building measures (CBMs).



The two sides agreed on a set of cross-Line of Control (LoC) CBMs that will enhance people-to-people contact and help to "build on convergences and narrow down divergences on Kashmir".



These included an increase in the frequency of the Muzaffarabad-Srinagar and Rawalkot-Poonch bus services from a fortnightly to a weekly basis and to finalise modalities for intra-Kashmir trade and truck services.



Pakistan again invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Islamabad and expressed the hope that he will come to Islamabad later this year to quicken the pace of peace process.



"Mutually convenient dates will be decided later on," Qureshi said.



"We will try to expedite his visit," was all Mukherjee would say.



Even as India conveyed its concerns on cross-border terrorism in the aftermath of the May 13 serial bombings in Jaipur, Pakistan said it was as much a victim of terrorism and agreed to strengthen their anti-terror mechanism, set up two years ago, so that such attacks do not derail the peace process.



"We ourselves are victim of the terrorism and our party is the latest example. We lost our party chief," Qureshi said when asked if Pakistan has given any assurances over cross-border terrorism to India. He was referring to the Dec 27 assassination of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.



Days after another incident of infiltration by militants across the LoC into Jammu and Kashmir, the two Ministers spoke glowingly about an improvement in atmosphere and agreed to sustain the November 2003 ceasefire along the LoC.



The two sides also agreed to expedite the resolution of disputes over the Siachen glacier and Sir Creek marshland. Qureshi strongly pushed for speeding up the resolution of these "doable" issues.



Mukherjee agreed, but said on a more realistic note that although political will is there on both sides, it may take some more time to settle these disputes.



At the end of the talks, Mukherjee outlined the three pillars of India's engagement with Pakistan as: an atmosphere free from terrorism and violence, willingness to proceed with resolving all issues and developing a normal and cooperative relationship with the neighbouring country.