Singh wants peace on borders and an end to violence

The man who dotted the i's and crossed the t's in the Guiding Principles that will from now on govern India's relations with China, has done the same ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's first high level meeting with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today.

The joint statement will have the imprint of M.K. Narayanan, India's National Security Adviser who says the statement will spell out Singh's vision of creating a situation in Jammu and Kashmir where boundaries matter less and less.

"The bottom line is we want peace on our borders, we want an end to violence," he said.

Singh, he pointed out "wanted people on both sides to be able to come easily across the border like parts of Europe, but in a way that does not impinge on sovereignty."

The senior official in the Prime Minister's Office also said that Musharraf's call for soft borders echoed Singh's earlier statements that for progress to be made on the issue of Kashmir, "the prime minister wants new bus routes to open up, more meeting points all along the Line of Control and the International Boundary."

"Nobody says that Kashmir is not a complex issue but it cannot be solved overnight, and this is the only way forward."

The call for more bus routes across the two Kashmirs will find a formal place in Singh's scheduled one-hour meeting with Musharraf this morning ahead of a lunch to be hosted by Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

Also to be proposed are meetings points at Poonch, Mendhar, Suchetgarh, Uri, Tangdhar (Neelum Valley) and in Kargil and Ladakh.

Narayanan stressed Singh would make clear that the rush to implement CBMs would in no way take the place of settling the Kashmir issue.

"All the CBMs are about making the lives of Kashmiris better, they are about Kashmir, how can it be said we are not discussing Kashmir, the prime minister has repeatedly stressed this."

"We have not closed our doors to dialogue on any subject that the President wants to bring up, the problem is Musharraf is fixated on Kashmir, we would like to resolve all issues, discuss anything he wants to bring up."

In fact, Singh's push for CBMs had led to a remarkable improvement in the climate in the last year. "He believes that this is the way the rest of the world is progressing and he does not want to see South Asia being left behind."

But then added " the previous government looked at India-Pakistan relations as a matter of give and take. We don't. Our aim is purely sparing people the pain of separation."

"The problem is he's gone so far ahead, that we are finding it difficult to keep pace," he said, while also warning that the other side should not take advantage of the open borders or see it as a sign of anything but trust.

As far as the the All Parties Hurriyat Conference he said "the prime minister had been very keen to meet them and then they went back on it, under pressure. Now the ball is in our court, it's up to the prime minister to decide when and how."

• Communication links through Kargil-Skardu bus link.
• Meeting points across LoC for relatives from both sides.
• Cross LoC-IB trade in J& K.
• Pilgrimage to Sharada temple, Pir Chinnasi, Gurudwara Chatti Patshahi, to be included in existing protocol.
• Cultural interaction.
• Cooperation on environment and forestry.
• Interaction between armies.

On the table

Kashmir: The Himalayan territory has been the cause of two wars between the neighbours since their independence from Britain in 1947.

Economic cooperation: Direct trade between the two countries totals about $400 million (Dh1.45 billion), with more than $2 billion sent through third countries.

Siachen: The dispute over the world's highest battleground involves a glacier in the Himalayas claimed by both India and Pakistan.

Tulbul navigation project: India wants to construct a dam on the Wular Lake in Kashmir to control the discharge of water into the Jhelum River, which flows through India into Pakistan. Pakistan has objected to this.

Sir Creek: The two countries also have a boundary dispute in the marshlands of Sir Creek on their border near India's Gujarat state.