India's Singh Makes Overture to Pakistan
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Saturday, March 25, 2006
NEW DELHI, March 24 -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for a new peace initiative with Pakistan on Friday, saying the two countries should resolve their differences and move toward a peaceful future
"The time has come to leave behind the animosities and the misgivings of the past," Singh said in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar, according to the Press Trust of India. "The peacemaking process must ultimately culminate in our two countries entering into a treaty of peace, security and friendship."
"I am convinced we can move forward if all concerned are willing to accept the ground realities -- if all concerned take a long view of history and our destiny," Singh added.
He also praised Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, for taking steps to curb terrorism.
Singh made his remarks while launching a new bus service between Amritsar and Nankana Sahib in Pakistan, the birthplace of the founder of the Sikh faith, Guru Nanak Dev. The two countries have reestablished other transportation links in recent years.
India and Pakistan, nuclear-armed rivals that have fought three wars, began a peace process in January 2004 that included adding transportation links. Despite improved relations in the past two years, the two countries have made few moves toward resolving their decades-long dispute over the Himalayan province of Kashmir.
Singh said talks with Pakistan could help settle disagreements over such issues as control of the Siachen Glacier in northern India and a hydroelectric dam in Indian Kashmir.
Singh added, however, that he considered it "a mistake to link normalization of other relations with finding a solution to Jammu and Kashmir," as the Indians refer to their part of the region.
