Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers yesterday ended their first round of talks over Kashmir on a positive note, resolving to take forward the peace process, an official said.
"There is a commitment ... there is determination to take this process forward and make progress in whichever field we can," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters.
PHOTO: AP
Sarna said Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri had during their discussions in New Delhi tackled the explosive issue of Islamic militancy in the Indian zone of divided Kashmir.
India's concerns on the cross-border infiltration of Islamic rebels and what New Delhi calls the "infrastructure of terrorism" -- or militant training camps -- in the Pakistan-administered zone of Kashmir were discussed, he said.
"This is a matter of concern and it has been raised in all the meetings," Sarna said.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and training guerrillas in Kashmir, an allegation Islamabad denies although it openly offers diplomatic support to what it calls the Kashmiris' rightful struggle for self-expression.
More than 40,000 people have died in Indian Kashmir since the launch of the rebellion in 1989.
The foreign ministers also discussed a number of issues including a bus link connecting the two zones of Kashmir, Sarna said.
"Both ministers had a very long one-on-one meeting," he said, describing the talks between Kasuri and Singh as having taken place in a "friendly, cordial, affable and constructive atmosphere."
The meeting was a review of a series of meetings between bureaucrats of the two countries on a number of issues including trade, terrorism, drug trafficking and Kashmir between June and last month, Sarna said.
"This is an occasion to look forward to the engagement in terms of dialogue between the two countries in whatever form is coming up ahead," Sarna added.
The foreign ministers wind up their talks today.
Kasuri was ready later yesterday to call on former Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who set the peace process in motion last April by extending a "hand of friendship" to Pakistan.
Kasuri was also to meet India's opposition leader Lal Krishna Advani and Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umer Farooq before attending a dinner later yesterday hosted by Natwar Singh.
Today, he was to call on Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and National Security Advisor J.N. Dixit besides attending the second round of the formal talks.
He is also due today to meet India's oil minister Mani Shankar Aiyar over lunch to discuss the future of a proposed US$3.5 billion pipeline designed to transfer gas from Iran to India through Pakistan.
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS