India's decision to initiate talks with neighboring Pakistan raised hopes on Thursday of eventual peace but little prospect of an early reduction in the level of violence in Kashmir.
Militants who have been fighting to end Indian rule in their portion of Kashmir said the invitation for talks -- and a simultaneous end to a seemingly ineffective Indian cease-fire -- would have no impact on the armed struggle.
That seemed clear when the Indian army said its soldiers shot dead six separatist guerrillas of a Pakistan-based militant group on Wednesday, just hours after New Delhi's unexpected move.
An Indian military official said ditching the six-month unilateral cease-fire raised the prospect of a fresh military offensive against Muslim guerrillas in the Himalayan region.
But the offer of the first talks since the countries hovered on the brink of a fourth war in 1999 raised the prospect of a diplomatic solution to the Kashmir dispute that has dogged the countries since their foundation 54 years ago.
In Pakistan, Major General Rashid Qureshi, spokesman for the government, said there was no doubt military ruler General Pervez Musharraf would take up the invitation for talks he had sought for months.
In India, the Hindu newspaper said Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had shifted "strategic gears" by aborting the cease-fire and proposing summit talks with Pakistan, whom it accuses of inciting the bloody separatist Kashmir revolt.
"In reaching out to Musharraf now, it is exhibiting its readiness to yield in the interests of peace," the Indian Express newspaper said.
Talks between the nuclear powers had been stalled, with India insisting Pakistan first halt support to rebels fighting its rule in Kashmir. Pakistan maintains it gives only moral support.
The prospect of negotiations between the two countries, which shocked the world by matching nuclear tests in 1998, won immediate praise from the new U.S. administration.
"I think they have the opportunity now to make real progress toward the reduction of tensions and a resolution of their differences through peaceful means," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said -- ISLAMABAD (Reuters)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
