& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Pak PM claims cross-party backing for talks with India

A lot still needs to be done to lower temperatures: Armitage

AFP, Islamabad
Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali claimed a mandate from all political parties to pursue "meaningful" dialogue with arch-rival India, after a cross-party meeting late Monday.
"All the leaders gave me a mandate to hold meaningful dialogue with India," Jamali said after consulting opposition Islamist and secular party leaders as well as government-allied parties.
Peace overtures between the hostile neighbours in the past three weeks have spawned hopes of their first dialogue in almost two years and a normalisation of relations.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee made a surprise offer on April 18 to agree to Pakistan's long-held call for talks. Jamali has since sent a formal invitation to Vajpayee to come to Pakistan for talks. Vajpayee has sent a "positive response" to the invitation, a foreign ministry spokesman said Monday.
The prime minister summoned all major political party leaders to his official residence late Monday to discuss a strategy for approaching possible dialogue. He has also raised the possibility of holding a special session of parliament to discuss the detente with India.
The South Asian giants have been locked in a dangerous standoff for 17 months since an attack on India's parliament which it blamed on Pakistan. They were close to war this time last year.
Meanwhile, there has been progress in India-Pakistan ties but a lot still needs to be done to lower temperatures between them, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said on the eve of a South Asia trip.
Armitage told BBC that all credit went to the leaders of the countries for recent moves to ease tensions which have kept the nuclear-ready subcontinent on a knife-edge for 17 months.
Pakistan's offer Monday to get rid of its nuclear arsenal if rival India agreed to do likewise was a "good gesture and that would be a great sign of enormous progress... but I think we have to keep our appetites under control.
"I think we have got a lot of work to do to continue to lower the temperatures for two great countries India and Pakistan to be able to live in peace and stability with each other."
He said Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had been able to curb the infiltration of Muslim militants from Pakistan into the Indian side of disputed Kashmir as he had pledged last year, adding the United States regarded him as a man of his word.
"He has been able put pressure on to lower the cross-border violence, we expect he'll continue to do this..."
The issue is a key sticking point in relations between the neigh-
bours. Islamabad denies New Delhi's accusations that it arms, trains and sends the rebels into the Indian side of Kashmir to fuel and anti-India insurgency.
Armitage said, "in the war against terrorism president Musharraf and his colleagues in Islamabad have been absolutely spectacular in breaking up terrorist cells, most recently one directed against our consul in Karachi, for which we are enormously grateful."
Asked if Musharraf had done enough to stop the operation of militant groups, he said: "As long as we have one person intent on doing harm to innocent civilians, then none of us are doing enough."
Armitage and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca are due to arrive in Islamabad late Wednesday.
They are to meet top Pakistani leaders on Thursday, US and Pakistani officials said.