Indian Prime Minister to Meet Pakistan's President in New YorkIndia's prime minister said Sunday he would meet Pakistan's president in New York next month to renew peace negotiations that broke down over the bitter Kashmir dispute during a July summit, news reports said."I will meet President (Pervez) Musharraf in New York and discuss all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, which will help in improving bilateral ties," Atal Bihari Vajpayee was quoted as saying by Press Trust of India in the northern city of Lucknow. Both leaders will be in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Musharraf traveled to India last month and met Vajpayee in Agra, the northern city that is home to the Taj Mahal. But the first talks between the two leaders broke down over failure to agree on a joint declaration and over Kashmir, the Himalayan region that both South Asian nuclear rivals claim as their own. India controls two-thirds of the province, Pakistan the rest. Islamic militants have been fighting for an independent Kashmir or merger with Muslim Pakistan since 1989. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since 1947, when they won independence from Britain, over Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority state in predominantly Hindu India. Gunbattles across the disputed border are common. |
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