News, November 2003, www.aljazeerah.info
Human Price of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine
Israeli daily aggression on the Palestinian people
Mission and meaning of Al-Jazeerah
Cities, localities, and tourist attractions
Hopes Rise as Kashmir Truce Holds for Second Day
Umer Farooq
Arab News
ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, 28 November 2003 — In the wake of a mutually agreed cease-fire between their armies across the rugged Kashmir border, Pakistan and India are moving close to bilateral talks in the first week of January when the leaders of seven South Asian nations will gather in Islamabad for a regional summit.
Officials on both sides said the cease-fire was holding more than 48 hours after it started, and no violations had been reported since midnight Tuesday.
Pakistan yesterday hailed the cease-fire between the rival armies as a “good beginning”, while India vowed to push the fragile peace process forward.
“It’s a positive development, and a good beginning because both sides have agreed to the cease-fire,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said of the first-ever full cease-fire which he said was “holding on both sides”.
“In the past President (Pervez) Musharraf would say ‘Let’s observe a cease-fire along the LoC and the Indians would say no’,” Khan told AFP, referring to proposals by Musharraf on Aug. 12.
“This time we took a unilateral decision and the Indians have responded positively, so it’s a good beginning.”
Musharraf and Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali claimed the initiative for the new cease-fire.
The two leaders “noted with pleasure that Islamabad’s initiative has resulted in cease-fire between Pakistan and India on the Line of Control, working boundary and the line of actual contact,” the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
The cease-fire covers the disputed 760 km LoC separating Indian and Pakistani-ruled zones of the Himalayan border region, the 230 km undisputed border, and the Siachen glacier in the far north.
The rival armies skirmish almost daily over the LoC, shelling each other and killing dozens of civilians each year.
India’s Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said in an interview with the Hindu newspaper that the climate between India and Pakistan had already improved before the truce was agreed but that the lull in cross-border shelling had “certainly improved the climate further”.
“There is no denying that fact,” Sinha said.
He described the latest peace moves between the long-time rivals as “dramatic” and said Indian would respond positively to “any worthwhile suggestion” from Pakistan.
“We are interested in friendly relations with Pakistan,” the foreign minister said. “We would like to take this process forward in all honesty because we are interested in peace with Pakistan.”
He added: “You can say that things have started moving. Before all this happened, there was a sense of great despair that something dramatic was not happening. Now, what can be described as dramatic has also started happening.”
Police in Srinagar, however, reported a bloody day yesterday in Indian-administered Kashmir, with six militants, two policemen and a civilian killed in fierce clashes between rebels and the security forces.
Both New Delhi and Kashmiri activists have said there will be no truce inside Kashmir.
The cease-fire is a high point in slow-moving efforts to mend ties since Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee agreed in April to work toward dialogue called for by Pakistan. The last time the two sides talked was in July 2001.
The neighbors were on the verge of war last year following an attack on India’s Parliament in December 2001, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
The South Asian giants had already fought two wars over Kashmir, a Muslim majority region claimed by both since the subcontinent was divided in 1947 on winning independence from Britain.
India has said incursions over the LoC by rebels fighting Indian forces in its zone of Kashmir must stop before peace moves can advance further.
But Khan said the onset of winter virtually guaranteed there would be no incursions.
(Additional input from agencies)
 |
| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
 |
| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
 |
| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python (Alquds, 1/25/03. |
 |