Following a similar move by India, Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali said yesterday that his country would reopen air, road and rail links with India (see GSN, May 6).
Jamali announced plans for several new measures yesterday designed to help improve relations with India, including the release of Indian fishermen who had been detained after entering Pakistani waters, the return of both countries’ embassies to full staff and the resumption of cricket and field hockey matches between the two countries. Both India and Pakistan have said their gestures could help lead to talks later this year to help resolve the status of the disputed Kashmir region.
“It is my hope that India will seize the moment, put aside the acrimony of the past and purposefully move forward with Pakistan to peacefully resolve all issues, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir,” Jamali said (John Lancaster, Washington Post, May 7).
Jamali said he favored a tiered approach to negotiations with India, concluding with a bilateral summit between the countries’ leaders (Associated Press/USA Today, May 7).
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan praised the moves, a spokesman said yesterday.
“The secretary general warmly welcomes the series of reciprocal steps India and Pakistan have recently taken to ease tensions and improve bilateral relations,” the spokesman said in a press statement. “He hopes that these steps … will lead to the strengthening of peace and stability in the entire South Asian region,” the spokesman added (U.N. release, May 6).
India, however, has rejected Pakistan’s offer, calling it “completely inadequate” because it does not address the issue of cross-border terrorism in Kashmir, according to wire services.
Pakistan is attempting through its offer to return to a situation that existed between the two countries before a Dec. 13, 2001, attack on the Indian Parliament that India has claimed was supported by Pakistan, an official Indian source said.
“Pakistan has tried to go back to the pre-Dec. 13 position without doing something tangible on cross-border terrorism,” the source said. “This is an indication of a mindset which is not very positive,” the source added (Straits Times, May 7).
Senior Indian and Pakistani officials have warned that the chance of war between the two nuclear-armed rivals could dramatically increase if negotiations fail.
“The most dangerous moment is always when high expectations are dashed,” an Indian politician said (Edward Luce, Financial Times, May 6).
The United States yesterday called on India and Pakistan to exercise caution as they worked to improve relations.
“Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. “Certainly there’s a lot of good things going on and we welcome that, we’ve encouraged that, we’re working with them on that. But there’s certainly more things to do and more things that we’ll be talking to them about,” he said.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is expected to arrive in the region today for talks with both Pakistani and Indian officials. During the talks, the U.S. delegation plans to focus on the issue of Kashmir, diplomatic sources said. The United States plans to call on Pakistan to improve relations with India before attempting to seek a solution on the Kashmir issue, according to the sources. The United States also plans to tell India that while it will call on Pakistan to end its support for cross-border terrorism, it also will not allow India to conduct a pre-emptive attack on Pakistan (Anwar Iqbal, United Press International, May 7).