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Islamabad to resume air, bus, rail links with Delhi

I will go to India if Vajpayee can't come: Jamali

AFP, Islamabad
Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali yesterday announced Pakistan would soon resume air, rail and bus links with India as a goodwill gesture.
Unveiling a series of confidence-building measures at a press conference, the prime minister said his government had also decided to release detained Indian fishermen, would take steps towards restoring sporting ties and would upgrade the strength of Pakistan's mission in New Delhi by naming an ambassador to India.
IANS adds: Jamali said he would be willing to travel to New Delhi for talks with his Indian counterpart Atal Behari Vajpayee.
But The News quoted him as saying at a public rally on Monday that a congenial atmosphere would have to be created first for a meaningful dialogue at the level of ministers and diplomats between the two countries.
Earlier, he told a television channel that he was prepared to travel to India if Vajpayee could not come to Pakistan. "I have written to Vajpayee that if he could not come to Pakistan, for (the sake of) Pakistan, for India, for South Asia, I am ready to go there (India)," Jamali said.
"We are well-wishers of humanity. This is the goal we have to achieve and all other things are of secondary importance," he main-
tained. The people of both countries want peace and developments towards peace were a "good omen", he added.
"One-fifth of the world's population lives in the subcontinent, and
peace will prevail in this region," he asserted.
Jamali's comments follow moves by India and Pakistan to resume their stalled dialogue, particularly over Jammu and Kashmir. Vajpayee startled everyone last week by announcing India would name a new envoy to Islamabad and resume air links snapped two years ago.
Meanwhile, The Daily Times reported that India had decided to start the dialogue process at a junior level and would upgrade this only if it felt that confidence building
measures were working on the ground.
The newspaper said soon after a new Indian high commissioner assumed office in Islamabad, Arun Singh, joint secretary in the Indian external affairs ministry, would visit Islamabad to kick-start the dialogue process.
A senior official in New Delhi was quoted as saying that India did not want to take chances this time as Vajpayee had described the latest push for peace as his "last and decisive" effort.
The Daily Times quoted the official as saying New Delhi would wait and see how Pakistan responds to its overtures. India will announce the next set of confidence building measures only if it was satisfied with the concessions granted by Pakistan.
Senior officials at the Indian home ministry were quoted in the newspaper as saying that there could be a lull in violence in Jammu and Kashmir, where about 40,000 people have died in a separatist campaign raging since 1989.
Indian industry also expects a boost once the talks take off and trade routes are opened as promised by Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, the newspaper said. Pakistan expects India to enter into the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan pipeline deal, the paper added. In Washington, US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday hailed a "moment of opportunity" in the standoff between India and Pakistan, as he dispatched his deputy to nurture emerging hopes of dialogue between the two rivals.
"We are pleased at some of the developments that have taken place over the last 10 days or so with positive statements coming from both sides," Powell told reporters after meeting NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson.
"This is a moment of opportunity where both sides seem to be reaching out."
Powell's number two Richard Armitage will visit India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"Deputy Secretary Armitage will encourage this process of reaching out and the United States will be ready to assist both sides as they move forward," said Powell.
Powell, who has kept up intense telephone diplomacy on South Asia and made several visits to the region over the last year, said he spoke over the last few days to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali.
He said he also spoke to Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha.
There has been progress in India-Pakistan ties but a lot still
needs to be done to lower temperatures between them, Armitage said yesterday.
Armitage told CNN 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."
Armitage and Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca are due to arrive in Islamabad today.
They are to meet top Pakistani leaders tomorrow, US and Pakistani officials said.
Armitage will also visit Kabul where he said his aim was "to make dramatically the point that the United States can do two things at once. We can be involved in Iraq and we will continue to be involved in Afghanistan."