India attempts reconciliation with Pakistan
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today announced that his country would be re-establishing full diplomatic relations with its neighbour Pakistan for the first time in 18 months.
“We want to give Pakistan one more chance not out of weakness, but out of self-confidence,” Mr. Vajpayee is reported to have told parliament the Indian parliament today.
The 78-year-old also said that the attempt would be “decisive” and the last in his lifetime.
And shortly after the announcement that there would be an Indian high commissioner in Islamabad, the Pakistani authorities stated that they would be sending a diplomatic representative to the Indian capital, New Delhi.
The news comes as a relief to leaders in south-east Asia, as the long-term hostilities between the two countries had threatened to get out of control in recent months.
There had been fears of a full-blown conflict between the two nuclear powers following an attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001.
As well as cutting off diplomatic links, air links from India into Pakistan were also stopped as a consequence of the attack, which the Indian authorities blamed on Pakistani-based militants.
Mr. Vajpayee and the Pakistani prime minister have spoken on the phone, but a meeting between the two men is unlikely until later in the year, according to commentators in the region.
One of the main bones of contention between the two countries is the disputed region of Kashmir, which is currently under Indian rule. As well as being identified as the motive for the attack in Delhi, the issue has been the cause of two of the three wars that have taken place between India and Pakistan.
When relations were at their most strained last year there was a huge build-up of more than a million military personnel on the border between the two countries.
The last time India and Pakistan attempted peace talks was in July 2001.
