As the leaders of Pakistan and India met yesterday for a historic summit focusing on their five-decade dispute over Kashmir, troops exchanged gunfire across the frontier for the first time in six months.
The late night battle with light weapons ended a few hours before Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf landed in the Indian capital, awash in fresh monsoon rains.
Both armies blamed the other for starting it, and said no one was injured in the gunfight. The nuclear-armed neighbors had regularly exchanged fire in Kashmir until December, when an unofficial truce began.
Islamic militant groups in Pakistan had warned they would stage attacks in Kashmir during the summit. At least five people, possibly eight, died yesterday in violence connected to the insurgency.
Guerrillas hurled a grenade at an army vehicle, missed it and injured seven to 12 people in a market, police said. In another town, guerrillas opened fired on troops, who fired back, killing a 10-year-old girl and another civilian, police said.
A militant group said it killed three soldiers in the encounter, but the army did not confirm it. Three militants were killed in two other skirmishes, police said.
Musharraf said the Himalayan region of Kashmir -- which both countries claim -- is the core issue for discussions with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whom he met for the first time yesterday.
"For more than half a century, the Kashmir dispute has cast a shadow on relations between Pakistan and India," Musharraf said after his arrival.
He said he urged Indian leaders to "join hands with us in resolving this dispute in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people. This will facilitate resolution of other issues and lead to a full normalization or relations."
India wants the summit to address not only Kashmir, but other issues, including trade, terrorism, the prevention of nuclear weapons accidents, drug trafficking, and the resumption of cricket matches.
After laying a wreath at the site where India's independence leader, Mohandas K. Gandhi, was cremated, Musharraf wrote in the visitor's book, ``Mahatma Gandhi devoted his entire life to the struggle for nonviolence and peace.
"Never has the requirement of his ideals been more severely felt than today, specially in the context of India-Pakistan relations.''
RSS