Natwar evinces optimism over talks’ momentum
By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

ISLAMABAD—Foreign Minister Natwar Singh said on Sunday his second visit to Pakistan in eight months reflected the positive momentum in relations between the two countries. Singh will meet his Pakistani counterpart, Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, on Monday and while the nuclear-armed neighbours are expected to sign two agreements on security cooperation no breakthrough in their tentative peace process is expected.
“This frequency of high level visits itself is reflective of the positive momentum of the bilateral relations between India and Pakistan,” Singh told reporters at Islamabad airport where he arrived on his second visit since February. The old rivals launched their peace process early last year after they went to the brink of a fourth war in 2002. “It is the overwhelming desire of the peoples in both our countries for friendly relations. Our governments respond to these sentiments and work towards a positive outcome of our deliberations,” he said. Analysts said the two countries were expected to sign pacts on advance warning of ballistic missile tests and on a hotline between their coast guards.But analysts in both countries have said a breakthrough on the main issue of contention, their decades-long dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, was not likely. “We shouldn’t expect major breakthroughs but definitely we’ll see some progress,” said Jamshed Ayaz, president of the Institute of Regional Studies, an Islamabad-based think-tank. Singh’s visit follows a meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York last month that ended without any major announcement or concrete initiatives, as many had expected.
Even before that meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, the neighbours exchanged barbs on their long-running dispute over Kashmir. Both countries claim the region but it remains divided by a ceasefire line, the result of their first war over the territory soon after independence from Britain in 1947. Despite differences over Kashmir, a ceasefire has held there since late 2003 and the two sides have launched a so-called composite dialogue on a range of issues including Kashmir. While little progress has been made on Kashmir, the two sides have reached agreement in several other areas including the restoration of diplomatic, sports and transport links, as well as on some trade and prisoner exchanges.
They have also discussed withdrawing troops from a disputed Himalayan glacier and energy cooperation, in particular a gas pipeline from Iran, through Pakistan, to India. But frustration is growing in Pakistan.Online adds: Indian External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh arrived here Sunday evening on a four day official visit for the first comprehensive talks between the two countries since they vowed last month to persist with their peace process.
“It is the overwhelming desire of the peoples in both our countries for friendly relations. Our governments respond to these sentiments and work towards a positive outcome to our deliberations,” he said in a brief statement after his arrival here.
“I am hopeful that the meeting (with Kasuri) will provide a further impetus to increasing cooperation between our two countries in areas of mutual interest.” Natwar Singh will meet his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and call on President Pervez Musharraf before returning home Wednesday via Karachi, where he will inspect the Indian consulate now being readied for reopening. Natwar Singh will spend two days in Islamabad before going to Karachi. This will be first  high-level contact between India and Pakistan since the meeting in New York Sep 16 between Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. During the minister’s visit, the two countries will sign an agreement on notifying each other in advance about missile tests. Another accord to be inked will cover establishing communications links between the Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan’s Maritime Security Agency. “Concerns about (continuing) cross-border terrorism will be taken up,” one Indian official told journalists accompanying the minister. “On the question of terrorist infrastructure (in Pakistan), the situation has not changed at all. “India also wants Pakistan to provide transit facilities for trade with Central Asia and the Middle East. The official said: “Pakistan cannot play the role of a bridge between South Asia and the Gulf as it claims to be if Indian goods cannot transit through its territory.”
The two countries could make progress in their dragging talks over their disputes over the Siachen glacier in Kashmir - the world’s highest battlefield - and the Sir Creek in Gujarat. The India-Pakistan Joint Commission will also meet for the first time in 16 years to discuss affairs related to trade and commerce, information, education, visa and travel.
Both sides are all set to ink an another accord that will cover establishing communications links between the Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan’s Maritime Security Agency.