Pak-India Impasse Broken with Telephone Diplomacy

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 30, 2003

Pak-India Impasse Broken with Telephone Diplomacy

The long-standing impasse between India and Pakistan has been broken with a telephone diplomacy between their prime ministers, which may improve their bilateral relations in the near future.

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The long-standing impasse between India and Pakistan has been broken with a telephone diplomacy between their prime ministers, which may improve their bilateral relations in the near future.

In an unexpected move on Monday evening, Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali telephoned his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee and invited him to visit Islamabad , while Jamali expressed his readiness to visit New Delhi "in the interest of peace and stability in South Asia."

During their 15-minute talks that were officially described as "most cordial and useful", the two prime ministers agreed that the best way to resolve issues is through negotiations and emphasized the need for resumption of dialogue between the two nuclear neighbors.

They also exchanged views on exploring ways to initiate relations in economic, cultural and sports fields.

This is the first contact between the top leadership of Pakistan and India after an 18-month impasse. The Pak-Indian relations have remained at the lowest with a number of incidents cropping up to block the way to resolve disputes through peaceful negotiations.

Vajpayee offered talks to Pakistan when he visited the India-controlled Kashmir on April 18. The Indian leader made the surprise offer in a speech to a public rally in Srinagar, saying he wanted talks with Pakistan as well as Kashmiri groups.

These remarks immediately defused the increasing tension in the subcontinent triggered by Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha's aggressive argument that India has a much better case to go for a preemptive action against Pakistan than the United States has in Iraq.

India's "change of attitude" towards dialogue also received a welcome and positive response from the Pakistani leadership including President Pervez Musharraf and Jamali.

Pakistan is prepared to engage in a comprehensive dialogue with India on the core issue of Kashmir and all other outstanding disputes, Musharraf said on the evening of April 22 while making a speech at a banquet he hosted in honor of visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri and his ministry repeated that Islamabad is ready to have dialogue with New Delhi at any time, anywhere and at any level, while denying Indian's allegations that Pakistan sponsors "cross-border infiltration" and "terrorist activities."

Jamali's telephone diplomacy, one of the latest overtures made by Islamabad, was highly appreciated in Pakistan and hit the front-page headlines in the local press.

Analysts here believed that this bold move no doubt will help restart the dialogue between Pakistan and India and create a congenial atmosphere for the oncoming visit by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, whose mission is "to promote peace and stability" in the region.

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