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Indo-Pak diplomatic, air links set to resume

* Vajpayee annonces decision in parliament
* Say talks to be decisive this time
* Rejects third party mediation
* Kasuri says Pakistan ready for bilateral resolution of Kashmir
* Rashid sees early talks

ISLAMABAD: Welcoming India’s announcement on Friday to resume full diplomatic ties and air links with Pakistan, Islamabad said it would match New Delhi’s pledge and hinted the first bilateral talks in almost two years could happen soon.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told the lower house of parliament earlier in the day that New Delhi has ‘decided to appoint a high commissioner to Pakistan and to restore civil aviation links on a reciprocal basis’.

Diplomatic ties and air links between India and Pakistan were snapped following an attack on India’s parliament in December 2001 by gunmen New Delhi claims were sponsored by Islamabad. India lifted the overflight ban last June, but Pakistan had not reciprocated this measure.

“We are committed to the improvement of relations with Pakistan and are willing to grasp every opportunity for doing so,” Vajpayee said.

“We have repeatedly expressed the need to create a conducive atmosphere for a sustained dialogue which necessarily requires an end to cross-border terrorism and the dismantling of its infrastructure.”

He rejected Pakistan’s demand for international mediation to resolve the dispute over Kashmir. However, Vajpayee hinted he was willing to negotiate the future of Jammu and Kashmir, ‘notwithstanding the 1995 resolution by parliament’ declaring it an integral part of India.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said Pakistan would match India’s pledge. “Knowing Pakistan’s policy...it stands to reason that we are for the upgrading of (diplomatic ties),” Kasuri told AFP.

When asked if Islamabad would name an ambassador to New Delhi, he replied: “In due course we will.” A ‘concrete announcement’ would however come from Prime Minister Jamali, Kasuri said. He wouldn’t say when Jamali would give the reply or what it would contain.

Kasuri declined to say when bilateral talks may take place. “Pakistan and India should start talking to each other rather than at each other,” Kasuri said. He said Pakistan was prepared to discuss Kashmir bilaterally.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said Vajpayee’s announcement was ‘a good gesture, a good start and hope for good future’. He said restoring diplomatic ties ‘will facilitate the process of dialogue between the two countries’. “I cannot say right now when talks are going to start, but it should be soon as things are moving quite fast. You can expect them any moment,” Rashid told AFP.

In a live interview with New Delhi Television News, the information minister said the talks would be held between Vajpayee and Prime Minister Jamali, not President Musharraf. “Soon both prime ministers are going to see each other,” the information minister said.

‘Last in my lifetime’: Vajpayee told parliament he would make a ‘decisive’ final bid to make peace with Pakistan — the ‘last in my lifetime’. “How long will we keep fighting with Pakistan? Is 50 years of spilling blood not enough? We want to give Pakistan one more chance, not out of weakness but out of self-confidence,” said Vajpayee, 78, who held two failed peace summits with Pakistan in 1999 and 2001. “The third attempt will be decisive and will be the last in my lifetime,” Vajpayee said. “This is a new beginning,” he said. “We don’t want to forget the past, but we don’t want to remain slaves of the past,” he said. “Terrorism is continuing. Anything can happen anytime. So should I not have extended the hand of friendship?” he said.

Iraq war was avoidable: Vajpayee said the recent war in Iraq was avoidable and India advocated a global balance of power instead of a coalition of nations led by the US. “Solutions should have been obtained without war and the credibility of the United Nations could have been maintained better,” Vajpayee told parliament. “The whole world is standing on one gravitation (but) we want a multi-dimensional character of the world (and) cautious steps are to be taken for that.” —Agencies

Pak CBMs today

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Zafrullah Jamali is expected to announce reciprocal confidence-building measures (CBMs) on Saturday for creating conducive environment to initiate a dialogue between Pakistan and India. Sources said the decision to this effect was made at a meeting between the president and the PM after a briefing by Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokar. “The prime minister is expected to announce restoration of air links with India besides upgradation of diplomatic relations with New Delhi,” sources said. —Rana Qaisar

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