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Hot line soon: Prisoners to be freed

Gujral, Sharif agree to wipe the slate clean
MALE. May 12: The leaders of India and Pakistan met today for the first time in four years, agreeing to wipe the slate clean after 50 years of hostility, reports AP
Speaking with uncommon congeniality. Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral and Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif agreed to set up a hot line, arranged a release of prisoners and decided to set up working committees to discuss the issues that led them to war three times since 1947
We have both agreed to have a clean slate." said Gujral after the 90-minute luncheon meeting. held on the sidelines of a seven-nation regional summit.
Although short on practical results, the meeting was significant for the optimism it lent to the impoverished South Asia region, which is trapped in a costly arms race.
We had a very good meeting. Very warm and friendly." Gu Jral said "Both sides tried to talk of prospects and desirability of good relations between the two."
Sharif said the foreign secretaries — the highest ranking diplomats of their countries — would meet to continue the talks. Calling his meeting with Gujral constructive and meaningful, Sharif said, "1 intend to continue with these talks. These occasions do not come every day."
The two men appeared to find good chemistry. Both are newly installed as prime minister, and come from the same region Punjab that was divided in 1947 when British India was partitioned into Muslim Pakistan and India, which is mostly Hindu.
"I like the man very much," Gujral said of Sharif.
Earlier, the Pakistani leader sounded cheerful as he headed into the meeting with Gujral on a tropical resort island ringed by coral reefs and palm-shaded beaches.
"We will find ways and means of cooperation with each other and resolving outstanding conflicts and issues." Sharil told reporters.
Sharifs foreign minister
had cautioned against high expectations. saying the problems of half a century would take a long time to resolve.
The main issue is rival claims by India and Pakistan to the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, a cause of two of their three wars since 1947.
After their meeting, the two leaders declined to answer questions about Kashmir. They also did not elaborate on the release of prisoners, or say how many each country holds.
In his speech to the opening plenary of the summit of the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation. Sharif said the enmity with India was diverting too much resources away from services to the people.
We can't afford the continuation of tensions, military confrontation and escalating defence budgets," he said. There is no looking back on the wasted years of the past."
Guiral welcomed Sharifs remarks and offered a sweeping vision for turning the fledgling
seven-nation trading bloc into a European-style economic community.
The Indo-Pakistan bilateral meeting capped a progression that began in March when senior diplomats resumed negotiations after a three-year suspension.
The Kashmir Issue, however, was not mentioned in the speeches, which were remarkable for their unusually congenial tone.
Gujral said the seven countries of the Indian subcontinent should emulate other models of economic integration. "Our vision for South Asia should reach the contours of a South Asian Economic Community." he said.
Such a community would combine the forces of one-fifth of humanity, which now has nearly half of the world's poorest people and an average per capita income of just over dlrs 300. less than sub-Saharan Africa.
'We must open up new horizons," said Abdul Gayoom. the president of the Maldives who assumed the chairmanship of the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation.