Kashmir not on agenda as India moves to restore Pakistan links

In an unprecedented move India has unveiled plans to restore relations with Pakistan, offering to talk with separatist politicians in Kashmir and giving hope to families divided by five decades of conflict.

But a Pakistan Foreign Ministry statement said it was disappointed that there was no mention of Kashmir, the Himalayan territory divided between the South Asian rivals and a catalyst in two of their past wars.

But India's Foreign Minister, Yashwant Sinha, who announced the plans yesterday said there could be no talks while Pakistan carried out "cross-border terrorism as an instrument of state policy". The proposals involve resuming transport links between the Kashmiri capitals. They were seen as a move to restart Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's peace initiative and seal his legacy as having restored relations.

The Indian government also said that for the first time in 13 years, it would meet with the separatist movement in its portion of Kashmir. Mr Sinha said that Delhi must continue in its efforts with Pakistan despite continued attacks by militants in Jammu-Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state. The militants have been fighting for the state's independence or merger with Pakistan since 1989, at a cost of some 63,000 lives.

The highway between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad - the capital of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir linked tens of thousands of families before being closed in 1947, when Pakistan separated from India at independence.

Khalid Mahmood, research analyst at the state-run Institute of Regional Studies in Islamabad, said: "Any move toward peace and normalisation ... is welcome. Even small steps are a move forward.