India and Pakistan agreed to continue the ongoing peace process with push for an improvement in bilateral economic relations and at the same time will try their best to resolve all outstanding issues comprising Kashmir.
After reviewing the fourth round of composite dialogue, both the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan issued a joint statement where they agreed to go ahead on all Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) including Kashmir.
The two sides agreed to increase in the frequency of Muzaffarabad-Srinagar and Rawalkot-Poonch bus services, modalities for intra-Kashmir trade and truck service and implementation of other measures to give a fillip to travel. They said a meeting of the working group would be arranged soon.
Both India and Pakistan reaffirmed the significance of ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and committed cooperation to safeguard it. They said visa norms would be liberalised so that people-to-people contact could be enhanced.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi declared his government was ready for a grand reconciliation with India through dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues with self respect and dignity.
“Pakistan is ready for a grand reconciliation; we have to sit and talk,” Qureshi said in a press conference.
Mukherjee said that both sides had decided to expand rail links across Wagah border and install a conveyer belt to facilitate transportation of cement in large quantities. “The whole world is moving towards globalization. We need cement; Pakistan has been good enough to offer it,” he added.
Both the sides reaffirmed that they would not permit terrorism at any cost to obstruct the peace process. Pakistan showed his willingness to fight against terrorism and in a joint statement they declared to take effective measures to eliminate problems from the root.
Both the foreign ministers reaffirmed the significance of ceasefire in operation since November 2003 and committed to safeguard it.
Mukherjee said the two countries could continue discussing the Kashmir dispute even as they improved bus services and pushed trade, both across the LoC and in the entire country.
Mr. Qureshi said that Kashmir remained at the centre of dispute and the relations across the border could improve only in case of constant movement on Kashmir.
He further said that “Kashmiris will benefit immensely if measures like trade and bus services are enhanced.” However, “we must give importance to core dispute,” Qureshi added.
However, the two ministers significantly underlined that the improvement in economic relations should not wait for the conflict resolution. The trade and conflict resolution are complementary and said they had discussed several proposals to increase trade relations.
“The moot point is that if we create a stake in each other's economic development, it will facilitate in resolving problems in other areas,” Mukherjee said citing the Indo-China trade which has touched to $40 billion and now targets $60 billion by 2010 and the trade relations between the two continuously improved despite the unresolved issues persisting between the two countries.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee also met Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani and President Pervez Musharraf and discussed the ongoing peace process between the two countries.
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