India and Pakistan in big peace push

Showing a flexibility that moves their peace process several steps ahead, the leaders of India and Pakistan agreed yesterday on measures to boost business ties, increase cross-border travel and roll back some of their military deployment along the frontier.

"We discussed all issues between our two countries, including the Jammu-Kashmir dispute," Musharraf said. "I am very happy to say that we have made progress on all these issues."

Meanwhile, Gulf News has learnt that a last minute disagreement on the issue of terrorism may result in no joint statement at the end of Musharraf's visit.

India's insistence that the January 6, 2004, statement be included in the document has upset the Pakistanis, who want to put the issue of terrorism aside.

"We've come so far on this, I cannot see why the Indian government is insisting on mentioning the Islamabad declaration," a senior Pakistani official told Gulf News. "There is no need for a quid pro quo. Every time Kashmir is mentioned, the phrase terrorism does not have to be added on."

The declaration was made on the sidelines of a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation meeting in Islamabad last year after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee met Musharraf for delegation level talks.

It states unambiguously and for the first time that Pakistan will not support or allow terrorist attacks to be launched on India from its territory.

Former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani told Gulf News at a dinner hosted by Musharraf for Delhi's cognoscenti that any attempt to abjure that agreement would be seen as a step backwards.