Indian, Pakistani Prime Ministers Talk over Phone

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 29, 2003

Indian, Pakistani Prime Ministers Talk over Phone

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In a major initiative that could help break the Indo-Pakistan logjam, Pakistan Prime MinisterMir Zafarullah Khan Jamali spoke to his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee over telephone on Monday night, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.

Both leaders agreed to consider a set of measures, including resumption of air links and sporting contacts, to kick start the bilateral relations between the two neighbors, an official from the External Affairs Ministry was quoted as saying.

Coming just over a week after Vajpayee's visit to Kashmir where he offered the "hand of friendship" to Pakistan, Jamali conveyed appreciation of Vajpayee's remarks on Indo-Pakistan relations.

Vajpayee suggested the importance of economic cooperation, civil aviation links, which India snapped as part of punitive measures following an attack on Indian parliament in December 2001.

For his part, Jamali suggested resumption of sporting links, the official said.

Both leaders agreed that these measures could be considered as a starting point to get out of the long impasse in bilateral ties, PTI said.

Jamali, according to state-run Pakistan television, invited Vajpayee to visit Pakistan at his convenience and expressed readiness to visit India to further the peace process.

The telephone conversation between the two prime ministers, marking the first high-level political contact, broke a long spellof tense relations between them that saw the two countries coming close to a military conflict soon after the parliament attack.

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