18 April 2005

Kashmir peace process “irreversible”

From Jal Khambata

NEW DELHI: Declaring the peace process started in Jammu and Kashmir as "now irreversible," Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Perevez Musharraf jointly vowed on Monday to carry it forward.

They said they will pursue "further measures to enhance interaction and cooperation across the LoC (Line of Control) including agreed meeting points for divided families, trade, pilgrimages and cultural interaction."

Musharraf spoke of Dr Manmohan Singh's sincerity in the search of a "final solution" of the Kashmir problem in his interaction with the Indian editors in the morning and the same spirit was reflected in their joint statement declaring their resolve to continue discussions on the Kashmir issue "in a sincere and purposeful and forward looking manner for a final settlement."

The joint statement issued at the end of General Musharraf's 3-day visit declared not to allow terrorism to impede the peace process as both Manmohan Singh and Musharraf together "condemned attempts to disrupt the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service and welcomed its successful operationalisation."

The bus service frequency would be increased and the route would be allowed to trucks to promote trade and additional routes, including that between Poonch and Rawalkot, would be operationalised, announced Dr Manmohan Singh, who personally read out the statement to enhance its importance inviting Musharraf to grace the occasion before departing and remove the Media speculation of differences over the joint statement. The announcement said they also look forward to an early start of a bus service between Amritsar and Lahore and to religious places such as Nankana Sahib.

The statement said the two leaders agreed to continue these discussions in a sincere and purposeful and forward looking manner for a final settlement. They were satisfied with the discussions and expressed their determination to work together to carry forward the process and to bring the benefit of peace to their people.

The joint statement was, however, silent on any joint military operation on the LoC or the borders in Jammu and Kashmir and it also did not fix the dates when the more buses will ply between the two Kashmirs. It also declared that the issues of Siachen glacier in J&K and Sir Creek on Gujarat's borders would be solved expeditiously by starting discussions through the existing institutional mechanisms "immediately."

The statement said the two leaders "were satisfied with the discussions and expressed their determination to work together to carry forward the process and to bring the benefit of peace to their people."

Other important announcements in the joint statement are:

-- Re-establishment of the Khokhrapur-Munnabao route between Rajasthan and Sindh by January 1, 2006. (It was not clear whether it will be the rail route that was earlier decided to be opened on October 2 this year or the road route proposed by India last week.)

-- Reopening of the Consulates General of the two countries in Mumbai and Karachi respectively before the end of the current year.

-- Ministers of Petroleum and Natural Gas would meet in May to explore cooperation and finalise the issue of the gas pipelines.

Missing from the joint statement was also the ferry service between Mumbai and Karachi that has been discussed between the two sides earlier, though the officials said it is covered under the paragraph that talks of the two leaders endorsing decisions of the foreign secretaries in December and Foreign Ministers in February on the schedule of meetings to work upon agreements and the measures to be taken to alleviate the situation of prisoners.

Both leaders agreed that enhanced economic and commercial cooperation would contribute to the well-being of the peoples of the two countries and bring a higher level of prosperity for the region, the statement said, adding that "the two leading economies of South Asia should work together for the greater prosperity of the region."

The leaders also decided to reactivate the Joint Economic Commission as early as possible. They also agreed that the Joint Business Council should meet soon.

The statement added that Dr Manmohan Singh has accepted "in principle" Musharraf's invitation to visit Pakistan and said mutually agreed dates would be worked out through diplomatic channels.

Here is the full text of the joint statement:

Joint Statement, India-Pakistan

18/04/2005

1. The President of Pakistan, His Excellency General Pervez Musharraf and Begum Sehba Musharraf visited New Delhi as guests of the Prime Minister of India and Shrimati Gursharan Kaur on 16 to 18 April 2005.

2. While in New Delhi, the President of Pakistan called on the President of India. He also had a meeting with the Prime Minister of India, who hosted a dinner in his honour. The President also watched the last one-day international cricket match between India and Pakistan.

3. The President of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of India used the opportunity provided by the visit to review progress in Pakistan-India relations. They assessed positively the progress that had been made so far through confidence building, people-to-people contacts and enhancing areas of interactions and determined to build on the momentum already achieved.

4. They reaffirmed the commitments made in the Joint Press Statement of January 6, 2004 and the Joint Statement issued after their meeting in New York on September 24, 2004 and expressed satisfaction on the progress in the peace process and the improvement of relations between the two countries that has since been realized.

5. Conscious of the historic opportunity created by the improved environment in relations and the overwhelming desire of the peoples of the two countries for durable peace and recognizing their responsibility to continue to move forward towards that objective, the two leaders had substantive talks on all issues. They determined that the peace process was now irreversible.

6. In this spirit the two leaders addressed the issue of Jammu and Kashmir and agreed to continue these discussions in a sincere and purposeful and forward looking manner for a final settlement. They were satisfied with the discussions and expressed their determination to work together to carry forward the process and to bring the benefit of peace to their people.

7. They also agreed to pursue further measures to enhance interaction and cooperation across the LoC including agreed meeting points for divided families, trade, pilgrimages and cultural interaction.

8. They condemned attempts to disrupt the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service and welcomed its successful operationalisation. The two leaders pledged that they would not allow terrorism to impede the peace process.

9. They decided to increase the frequency of the bus service and also decided that trucks would be allowed to use this route to promote trade. They also agreed to operationalise additional routes including that between Poonch and Rawalakot. They also look forward to early start of the bus service between Amritsar and Lahore and to religious places such as Nankana Sahib.

10. They agreed to re-establish the Khokhrapar-Munnabao route by 1st January 2006.

11. They agreed that the Consulates General of the two countries in Mumbai and Karachi respectively would be opened before the end of the current year.

12. They endorsed the decisions taken in the meeting of Foreign Secretaries of the two countries on 27-28 December 2004, and the Foreign Minister on 15-17 February 2005, on the schedule of meetings later in the year, the agreements to be worked upon through these meetings and the measures to be taken to alleviate the situation of prisoners.

13. On the issues of Sir Creek and Siachen, they instructed that the existing institutional mechanisms should convene discussions immediately with a view to finding mutually acceptable solutions to both issues expeditiously.

14. It was agreed that the Ministers of Petroleum and Natural Gas would meet in May to explore cooperation in the sector including on the issue of pipelines.

15. Both leaders agreed that enhanced economic and commercial cooperation would contribute to the well-being of the peoples of the two countries and bring a higher level of prosperity for the region. The two leading economies of South Asia should work together for the greater prosperity of the region.

16. The leaders decided to reactivate the Joint Economic Commission as early as possible. They also agreed that the Joint Business Council should meet soon.

17. The President of Pakistan conveyed his gratitude for the hospitality provided during the visit and invited the Prime Minister to visit Pakistan. The invitation was accepted in principle. Mutually agreed dates would be worked out through diplomatic channels.

New Delhi

April 18, 2005

###