Indian and Pakistani leaders met for the first time in two-and-a-half years yesterday, a day after the opening of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit that many hope will jump start long-stalled talks between the nuclear rivals.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee met Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for just over an hour Monday for talks that followed Sunday's meeting of Vajpayee and Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali.
"Both leaders welcomed the recent steps towards the normalization of relations between the two countries and expressed the hope that the process would continue," Indian foreign minister Yashwant Sinha told a news conference yesterday.
The last time the nuclear-capable neighbors held talks was in July 2001 in the Indian city of Agra, where Vajpayee met Musharraf.
Talks broke down and the two countries plunged into a bitter political conflict, coming close to war after Islamic militants attacked New Delhi's parliament in December 2001, until serious fence-mending began in April 2003.
Here is a brief chronology of events since their last formal meeting:
July 16, 2001: Vajpayee and Musharraf hold a historic summit in Agra in an effort to bring peace between the two countries. The talks break down over a decades-old dispute over Kashmir, the Himalayan region claimed by both.
December 13, 2001: Islamic militants stage a suicide attack on the Indian parliament, 14 people die including the five gunmen.
New Delhi says Pakistan masterminded the attack, prompting the deployment of hundreds of thou-sands of troops to the border, the cutting of transport links and the recall of India's high commissioner from Pakistan.
Jan. 6, 2002: Vajpayee and Mu-sharraf meet in Nepal's capital Kath-mandu at the last SAARC summit. In a dramatic move, Musharraf shakes Vajpayee's hand, but the Indian prime minister says he is waiting for concrete actions.
May 14, 2002: Islamic militants attack an Indian army camp at Kaluchak, near Kashmir's winter capital Jammu, killing 35 people, mostly women and children. Military tensions escalate again.
June 4, 2002: Vajpayee and Musharraf meet at a regional summit in Kazhakstan's capital Almaty, but avoid each other.
Aug. 21, 2002: Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha and Pakistani Deputy Foreign Minister Inamul Haq attend a SAARC meeting in Kathmandu. No talks are held.
Nov. 14, 2002: India pulls back troops from all border areas except Kashmir, leading to a de-escalation of tension with Pakistan.
Dec. 9, 2002: Pakistan postpones a SAARC summit set for January in Islamabad, blaming India for equivocating on whether it will attend.
Feb. 24, 2003: Musharraf and Vajpayee attend a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. They attack each other's stands over Kashmir.
April 18, 2003: During a tour of Kashmir, Vajpayee offers to "open the doors for talks" with Pakistan, but links it to the end of cross border infiltration of militants. Vajpayee later holds telephone talks with Pakistani counterpart Zafarullah Jamali, the first high-level contact in a year with Pakistan.
May 6, 2003: Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali matches Vajpayee's gesture with offers to resume transport links severed by New Delhi in January 2002, release jailed Indian fishermen, reappoint an ambassador and restore sports links.
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