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India Formally Invites Pakistan's Musharraf
NEW DELHI, May 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - India on Friday formally invited Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf for landmark talks on relations between the two countries, with a special focus on Kashmir, a foreign ministry spokesman said.
The invitation for Musharraf, also Pakistan's chief executive, and his wife to visit Delhi was made in a letter delivered Friday by India's high commissioner in Islamabad, the spokesman said.
The formal invitation came two days after India first said it would invite the Pakistani leader for talks on the conflict in Kashmir and other issues, said the AFP news agency.
The initiative was announced as India announced it was scrapping its six-month-old suspension of combat operations against Islamic self-determination seekers in Kashmir.
Pakistan has already said it will respond positively to the invitation, which analysts have hailed as a potentially major development in the troubled relationship between the two South Asian states, both of which have carried out nuclear tests in recent years.
"The letter signed by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was handed over by India's acting High Commissioner R. Vyas to Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Inamul Haq this morning," foreign ministry spokesman Raminder Singh Jassal said.
The letter said: "India has, through dialogue, consistently endeavored to build a relationship of durable peace, stability and co-operative friendship with Pakistan."
"We have to pick up the threads again, including renewing the composite dialogue, so that we can put in place a stable structure of co-operation and address all outstanding issues, including Kashmir," added Vajpayee.
He said that for the welfare of the people of India and Pakistan, there was no other recourse "but a pursuit of the path of reconciliation, of engaging in productive dialogue and building trust and confidence."
"I invite you to walk this high road with us," the Indian premier said.
Speaking at a press conference, Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar said Musharraf would accept the invitation in the hope of reaching a solution to the Kashmir problem.
"What he [Musharraf] has said again and again is that the Kashmiri question is the root cause of the conflict and should receive priority attention," said Sattar.
However, Sattar condemned India's decision to end its supposed six-month unilateral ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir, reported the India Daily online news service.
India had announced on Wednesday it was scrapping its alleged six-month ceasefire against self-determination groups in its zone of disputed Kashmir where 35,000 people have died since 1989.
Groups fighting to end Indian rule were reported as saying that the proposed talks would have no effect on their struggle.
"We welcome India's talks offer but it should be meaningful, with the sole aim of implementing the United Nation resolutions on a referendum in Kashmir," the main Pakistani Islamic party, the Jamaat-i-Islami, said.
"India should admit Kashmir is not its integral part and must end the ongoing atrocities on Kashmiris to prove its sincerity for peace in the region," party spokesman Amirul Azeem said.
Former Pakistani foreign secretary Akram Zaki said Vajpayee's invitation to Musharraf was aimed at "appeasing the United States and creating crude misgivings among Kashmiris and Pakistan."
In a press statement he said Pakistan should adopt an "unequivocal stance" that it would only be ready to hold talks with India after negotiating with representatives of the Kashmiri alliance.
The Independent newspaper noted that, "if India's past performance is a reliable guide, India will not shift one inch from its established position that Kashmir is an inalienable part of the Indian Union."
Meanwhile, five Indian security personnel were killed and three others injured Friday in Kashmir when an explosive device planted by "Muslim separatists", officials said, destroyed their vehicle.
The explosion, triggered by remote control, was claimed by the Hizbul Mujahideen in telephone calls to news organizations.
"Our fighters carried out the attack in Jammu on Friday killing five policemen. It is our response to the end of the so called unilateral ceasefire by the Indian government," Hizbul spokesman Salim Hashmi said, news agencies reported.
The attack occurred less than 48 hours after India announced it was resuming offensive operations against fighters in the part of Kashmir under its control.
The explosion took place in Udhampur district, 70 kilometers (40 miles) east of Kashmir's winter capital Jammu, while a team of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was on a routine patrol, a senior security official said.
According to police, more than 1,000 people have been killed in Kashmir between November 28th and May 1st, most of them civilians.
Kashmiri groups are fighting against Indian rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir.
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