India opens door to talks with Pakistan

INDIA’S prime minister has opened the door slightly to talks with Pakistan and it is now up to Islamabad to step into the room, analysts and officials said yesterday.

Atal Behari Vajpayee returned from a rare visit to the bloodied Kashmir region saying he was ready to make a fresh start with Pakistan but Islamabad must reciprocate by cracking down on Muslim militants.

"He is trying to put the Pakistanis in a spot," said independent foreign affairs analyst K Subrahmanyam. "It's a test for them and for the Americans, who have been calling for dialogue. We don't know if Pakistan will play ball."

Mr Vajpayee said he would order peace talks the moment Islamabad pledged to stop militants from infiltrating into Indian-ruled Kashmir and to destroy training camps New Delhi says exist across the border. India had earlier refused to consider dialogue with Pakistan, saying it must end "cross-border terrorism" and hand over 20 fugitives suspected of acts of terror in India.

"What Vajpayee is now telling the Pakistanis is, do this little bit, dismantle a few camps and we will talk," Subrahmanyam said.

Islamabad, which denies financing, training and sending militants in to join the bloody revolt in Indian Kashmir, has welcomed Mr Vajpayee's offer, saying it will go the extra mile.

Foreign Minister Mian Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri said Pakistan is prepared for a comprehensive dialogue, adding: "If India is serious about a dialogue, India will find that Pakistan is willing to go more than half the way to meet India."

But the violence that has killed 38,000 people since the Kashmir revolt began 14 years ago continued unabated yesterday. Indian border guards killed six suspected militants who were trying to cross the ceasefire line from Pakistan in the Poonch sector, police said. Two other guerrillas were killed in a gun battle in Surankote in the southern part of the state.

Mr Vajpayee's conciliatory note towards Pakistan came weeks before a round of visits by US officials to New Delhi and Islamabad to calm tensions.

The two countries came to the brink of war a year ago after an attack on India's parliament in December 2001.Tensions have eased since then but the diplomatic standoff remains.