Pakistan's president announced the next round of peace talks with rival India will take place later this year, just after the Indian elections, and that foreign ministers from the two sides will soon get involved in the negotiations.
President General Pervez Musharraf broke the news in a speech at a conference of Islamic clerics on the sidelines of the historic first round of peace talks between the two nations.
The talks are being held between the two country's foreign secretaries, and a move to include foreign ministers would mean a significant boost in the level of the negotiations. A delay until after India's April vote had long been suspected.
"The talks have been held now. I want to tell you that in July or August, or God willing, in May or June, the next secretary-level talks will be held, immediately after the elections in India," Musharraf said. "The Kashmir issue will be included and in July or August, a foreign minister-level composite dialogue will be held."
The latest peace talks have raised hopes that the South Asian rivals can put their half-century of enmity over Kashmir and other issues behind them.
India's Secretary for External Ministry Affairs, Shashank, who uses one name, and Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar met yesterday in the last of three-days of talks that have been taking place in the Pakistani capital.
Even before Musharraf's announcement, the two sides had voiced optimism.
"We expect this round of talks to succeed and kick-start the composite dialogue," Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said. "Things are moving smoothly and we are optimistic."
A breakthrough on the timetable was reached Tuesday, but specifics were not announced until Musharraf's speech. Further details were likely to be held at a press conference later yesterday after the formal end of the talks.
Pakistan and India have fought two out of their three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947 over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. The two countries agreed at a regional conference last month that the time had come to resolve the issue, and they have moved quickly since then to cement better ties.
India and Pakistan were expected to set up eight groups to tackle the decades-old Kashmir dispute, build confidence and deal with issues such as nuclear arms, terrorism, drugs and trade. The agenda was first agreed to in 1997 but failed to make any headway.
Diplomats close to the talks also said technical-level discussions about a bus service in divided Kashmir and another bus and train route from Pakistan's Sindh province would take place next month.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee is expected to win the April vote and continue the dialogue.
On Tuesday, the two delegations drove to Murree, a hilltop resort 50km northeast of Islamabad, and just a few kilometers from the Pakistani-controlled portion of Kashmir, where the agreement was reached over lunch.
The three-day summit came after Vajpayee and Musharraf decided last month to resume a peace dialogue. A July 2001 summit in Agra, India failed to make any progress.
A ceasefire line divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, but both claim the territory in its entirety. More than 65,000 people have been killed in an insurgency that has raged in Indian-controlled portions of the territory since 1989.
In January, Vajpayee agreed to discuss Kashmir while Musharraf promised not to support terrorism in Pakistani territory directed against India. India accuses Pakistan of training and arming Islamic guerrillas fighting for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with Pakistan, a charge Pakistan denies.
Early this month, Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said Pakistan's government has taken effective measures against Islamic militant groups based in Pakistan, leading to a decline in incursions into Indian-controlled Kashmir.
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