NEW YORK: The prime ministers of India and Pakistan met in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, seeking improved relations on the subcontinent.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif shook hands and exchanged small talk before journalists were hustled out of the meeting room at a hotel Sunday. It’s their first face-to-face meeting since Sharif was re-elected in May.
Sharif has called it a chance for a ”new beginning” in relations between South Asia’s nuclear rivals.
Singh has reciprocated the goodwill but downplayed expectations. He says relations can’t improve until Pakistan stops militants from launching attacks in India.
The prime ministers of India and Pakistan agreed to reduce violence over their disputed border in Kashmir, an Indian official said.
Both agreed that the precondition for forward movement in the relationship, which they both desire, is really an improvement of the situation on the LoC, Indian national security adviser Shivshankar Menon told reporters, referring to the Line of Control in Kashmir.
Menon said that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, in talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, decided to task senior military officers to find effective means to restore the ceasefire.
The talks come after militants raided an army base on the Indian side of Kashmir on Thursday, killing 10 people in an attack seen as aimed at holding back reconciliation efforts between the historic rivals.
Menon said that Sharif also promised there would be action on punishing extremists linked to the 2008 raid on the Indian city of Mumbai, which killed 166 people.
Menon said the talks were friendly, but added: As for how useful and productive the meeting was, I think the only proof will be in the months to come.
Sharif, in his first talks with Singh since sweeping to power in May, has appealed for the two countries to improve their historically tense relationship.
Rocky Start
The run-up to Sundays meeting was rocky. First came the twin terror attacks in Kashmir last week on a police station and an Army camp, considered the worst in a decade. At least 10 people including a lieutenant colonel in the Indian Army were killed, and this came just a day after Singh confirmed the meeting with Sharif in a departure statement as he left for the US.
Despite opposition anger over the Kashmir attacks, Singh said he would meet Sharif. On Sunday, hours before the crucial meeting, came Sharifs reported comment that Singh who met US President Barack Obama on 27 September and discussed cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan, was behaving like a dehati aurat (rustic woman). Sharif, who met journalists Hamid Mir of Pakistans Geo TV and NDTVs Barkha Dutt over breakfast, reportedly told them that Singh seems to have met Obama for the purpose of complaining about him.
Later in the day, Pakistani journalists and Dutt contradicted Mirs remarks that Sharif had made derogatory remarks against Singh. Mir also retracted his statements on Twitter.
On Saturday, a tough talking Singh set the tone for Sundays meeting in his address to the UN General Assembly where he did not mince words as he described Pakistan as epicentre of terrorism in South Asia and urged the UN member countries to show zero tolerance towards states sheltering, arming, training or financing terrorists.
Terrorism remains a grave threat to security and stability everywhere and extracts a heavy toll of innocent lives around the world. From Africa to Asia, we have seen several manifestations of this menace in the last few days alone, Singh said in a statement.
Singh, Sharif invite each other
Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan today extended invitations to each other for official visits as they meet here for the first time to discuss ways to normalise bilateral ties.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif at New York’s Palace Hotel in midtown Manhattan on the margins on UN General Assembly session.
“Sharif invited Prime Minister Singh to visit Pakistan and Singh invited Sharif to visit India. Both accepted the invitations,” National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon said during a media briefing after the meeting.
“No dates have been set yet,” he said.
Prime Minister Singh’s ancestral hometown is at Gah in the Punjab province of Pakistan.
Sharif had earlier said that he would be happy to welcome Singh in Pakistan to visit ancestral hometown in Gah. –Compiled from agencies
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