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India Ends "Ceasefire" And Invites Pakistani Ruler
NEW DELHI, May 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The Indian government on Wednesday ended its unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir and invited Pakistan's military ruler Pervez Musharraf to New Delhi for peace talks.
The decision to scrap the six-month-long cessation of Indian military combat operations in Kashmir was announced by Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh after a cabinet meeting of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee ended in New Delhi.
"It was expected that various terrorist groups and organizations, mostly foreign, would see reason and recognizing the imperatives of peace, dialogue and cooperation shun violence. Regrettably they have not," Singh told reporters.
"Therefore, this phase is now over."
He added: "Hereafter security forces shall take such action against terrorists as they judge best. They will in the process continue to exercise maximum care that no harassment is caused to the civilian population."
Since Vajpayee first announced the so-called unilateral ceasefire on November 19, 2000 more than 1,000 soldiers, civilians and Muslim opposition members have died in violence linked to independence for the Himalayan region.
Kashmiri groups say that the Indian ceasefire was utilized in practice as attacks continued against Kashmiris, and that the ceasefire announcement was nothing more than a ploy for international justification that India was on the higher moral ground.
The foreign minister said the decision to invite Pakistan's ruler was taken at the same cabinet meeting.
"Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has decided to invite General Musharraf to visit India at his earliest convenience. A formal invitation will be delivered shortly," said Singh, who also holds the defense portfolio.
"India is yet again offering the hand of friendship, reconciliation, cooperation and peace to Pakistan in the expectation that this opportunity shall be positively and purposefully utilized by them," he said.
"India's commitment to peace, dialogue and cooperative coexistence with Pakistan remains unaltered. Prime minister Vajpayee had set in motion a peace process by his historic and path breaking visit to Lahore in early 1999.
"A gratifying feature of these last six months has been relative peace along the Line of Control on account of restraint exercised by both sides," Singh said in reference to a thaw on the militarized borders that partition Kashmir.
The minister also said the government would continue to exercise military restraint on the borders, where the two rival armies are deployed face-to-face.
Experts saw in Vajpayee's invitation a major shift in New Delhi's policies on its approach to Pakistan.
New Delhi had earlier insisted that it would open doors to talks with Pakistan only after Islamabad ended its support to cross-border "terrorism" in Kashmir.
Over the past few weeks, Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist-led coalition government has said it has been striving to open talks with Kashmir's various political organizations in a bid to restore normalcy in the strife-torn region.
For its part, Pakistan on Wednesday said it would respond positively once it receives a formal invitation for peace talks.
Foreign Secretary Inamul Haq said Musharraf had repeatedly stressed the need for dialogue with India to resolve disputes.
"The Chief Executive has more than once said that he is ready to meet and hold talks with the Indian leadership anywhere, anytime," he said.
"We will respond positively when we receive the invitation officially," he added.
A Pakistan government spokesman told AFP: "So far we do not have any official communication."
Formal contacts between the two sides have been on ice since the May-June 1999 Kargil conflict in Kashmir.
That conflict derailed a peace process initiated after a landmark summit between Vajpayee and former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the eastern city of Lahore in February that year.
Musharraf ousted Sharif in a military coup in October 1999 and assumed powers as the country's chief executive.
The conflict in the region has left more than 35,000 people dead in Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, since 1989.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the Kashmiri opposition. Islamabad denies the charge but extends moral and diplomatic support to what it describes as the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiris' for self-rule.
The two rivals have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since their independence from the British in 1947.
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