Peace hopes high as Pakistani and Indian leaders meet

Pakistan’s military president met with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today on the sidelines of a South Asian summit, building on momentum toward better relations after a half-century of venom.

The talks were seen as a milestone toward increasing confidence for a rapprochement, two years after their armies stood on the brink of war.

The meeting lasted just over an hour.

The two men shook hands and were joined during the talks by foreign affairs and national security aides.

“This meeting was held in a cordial manner and ended on a positive note,” Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.

Indian and Pakistani officials have worked behind the scenes for days to ensure that the meeting went ahead and billed it as a diplomatic courtesy call to dampen expectations of any major breakthrough, especially on the bitter territorial standoff over Kashmir, flashpoint of two wars since the countries achieved independence from Britain in 1947.

Just before the meeting, Vajpayee laid a foundation stone at the Indian chancery and told reporters that the two countries had to keep on talking with each other.

“New questions have come up and new answers are being sought,” Vajpayee said. “The two sides have to realise each other’s problems and we have to find a way out together. Good relations with Pakistan are a big responsibility.”

Musharraf, who survived two assassination attempts last month, shook hands with Vajpayee before they sat down for their talks at the heavily guarded President House in Islamabad.

The capital has been under a massive security clamp, with some 10,000 police and commandos deployed in the streets during the three-day summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

Earlier, the foreign secretaries of the two countries had breakfast at a hotel and had “a general exchange of views,” Khan said.

“We hope that all these confidence-building measures will ultimately lead toward a composite dialogue and peace and security and stability in the region,” Khan said.