Sun Sep 5, 2004 10:04 AM ET
By Simon Denyer and Sanjeev Miglani
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan ended a first round of talks looking for ways to advance a faltering peace process, amid signs of discord over the decades-old dispute in Kashmir.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri and Indian counterpart Natwar Singh shook hands and voiced commitment to friendly relations before sitting down for one-on-one talks followed by delegation level discussions.
"The meetings were held in a friendly, cordial and affable and constructive atmosphere," Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters after the first session.
"There is a determination to take this forward and make progress in whatever fields we can."
The talks end on Monday.
Analysts said the two sides, which embarked on the peace process nine months ago, could announce some agreements on a raft of confidence building proposals including transport links and people-to-people contacts.
But the nuclear rivals remained far apart on the central dispute of Kashmir and the tensions were apparent.
Sarna said New Delhi raised its concerns over renewed guerrilla incursions into its part of Kashmir from Pakistan, a charge which Islamabad immediately rejected.
India has also insisted that talks must cover all outstanding issues and not be held hostage to Kashmir.
Pakistan has sought to focus attention on the disputed Himalayan region and draw Kashmiris into the peace process, drawing an angry Indian response.
Kasuri, who said he would try to persuade New Delhi to involve Kashmiris in the dialogue met top Kashmiri separatist leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, head of a pro-Pakistan group and chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
"Any talks that do not include the Kashmiri people, will not be fruitful," Farooq said after meeting Kasuri at the Pakistani embassy in New Delhi.
But India, which considers the former state of Kashmir to be an integral part of the country, bristles against any involvement of a third party in what it says is a bilateral dispute with Pakistan.
WAR OF WORDS
"There is considerable disappointment here today at the unifocal statement made by the Pakistan foreign minister about India-Pakistan relations..." Sarna said.
"This is not in consonance with the spirit in which we have conducted the composite dialogue so far. It also violates Pakistan's own call for a rhetoric restraint regime."
In reiterating Pakistan's long-held views on Kashmir, Kasuri had implicitly blamed Indian intransigence for the impasse.
"All along, the question before us has been very simple. We should give the Kashmiris the choice to determine their own future. This choice should have been given them in August 1947. But, 57 years later, we are still at the starting line."
Kasuri tried to calm the waters on Sunday.
"We are not unifocal," he told reporters. "We will have to talk on all issues."
The neighbors, who went to the brink of war in 2002, embarked on a peace process last January with a new sense of purpose. But some of that hope has dissipated in recent months, especially after the Congress party won back power in May, replacing the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Pakistan is increasingly concerned that India, which controls the heart of Kashmir, is dragging its feet and is unwilling to engage in a serious dialogue over the region.
"We are not afraid of discussing Jammu and Kashmir, but we do not buy the argument that is the only issue affecting our two countries," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday.
(Additional reporting by Arif Sharif)
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