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Jamali invited his Indian counterpart over
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By
Asif Farooqi, IOL Pakistan Correspondent
ISLAMABAD,
April 28 (IslamOnline.net) - Pakistan and India achieved a major
breakthrough in their bitter bilateral relations Monday, April 28,
when Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali invited his Indian
counterpart to visit Pakistan to discuss issues of dispute.
Jamali
extended the invitation to Atal Behari Vajepayee in a telephonic
conversation held at the initiative of the former, Monday evening,
ending an 18 months old impasse between the countries.
This
is the first contact at the highest level between the two countries
since the collapse of Agra talks in July of 2001 when President
General Pervez Musharraf cut short his Indian visit when his talks
with Prime Minister Vajepayee broke down.
Relations
between the two nuclear neighbors have been soaring ever since to the
extent that U.S. had to intervene to avert a war between the two
countries in June last year.
Pakistan
and India have fought three wars since 1947 when the two nations got
independence after two centuries of British rule.
This
was the maiden contact from Zafarullah Khan Jamali the elected Prime
Minister of Pakistan. Jamali took charge of the country in November
last year following general elections to end three years of military
rule.
Former
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also had taken the bold initiative of
inviting the Indian Prime Minister to Pakistan in March 1999 whereby
the two leaders reached a historic agreement on discussing many
controversial issues including Kashmir which has been the cause of two
of three wars between India and Pakistan.
Jamali
was quoted in an official hand out as telling his Indian counterpart
that he was willing to travel to India for talks “in the interest of
peace and stability in South Asia”.
“Prime
Minister welcomed talks offer by Prime Minister of India and
reiterated Pakistan’s readiness for a dialogue at any level” the
official handout stated.
Jamali
mentioned in his conversation the issue of Kashmir as one of the
issues to be addressed at the proposed meeting.
The
statement said the two Prime Ministers also exchanged views on
exploring ways and means to initiate relations in economic, cultural
and sports fields.
Pakistan
and India reduced relations in all the three fields over the previous
few years. The rail and road links between the two countries have been
blocked and India has refused to play the most popular South Asian
sport cricket with Pakistan at bilateral level.
According
to the statement the Indian Premier appreciated the “1st contact”
between the two prime ministers.
“The
two sides agreed to keep in touch while the conversation was most
cordial and useful” the statement concluded.
