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India, Pakistan hold talks on militants, prisoners
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-08-29 15:58
India and Pakistan, seeking to nudge a slow peace process forward, began
talks on Monday to curb terrorism and drug trafficking and work out prisoner
exchanges, Reuters reported.
The talks will be followed this week by a meeting of the heads of both
foreign departments to lay the ground for talks between Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf at the l U.N. assembly in
Septemer.
The Indian team at Monday's two-day talks is led by Home Secretary Vinod
Kumar Duggal while heading the Pakistani delegation is Interior Secretary Syed
Kamal Shah.
The peace process has seen slow progress over the past two years with a
decades-old dispute over the Himalayan territory by far the most contentious
issue.
Both sides claim the territory. India accuses Pakistan of fomenting a revolt
by Islamic militants in Indian Kashmir.
On Sunday, troops shot dead four militants trying to sneak into Indian
Kashmir, India's army said.
Officials from both sides will also discuss prisoner exchanges, after a
public outcry in India over Pakistan's decision to execute an Indian convicted
of spying.
Pakistani authorities said Manjit Singh worked for Indian intelligence and
was involved in bomb blasts in Pakistani cities.
The convicted man's family says he is actually Sarabjit Singh, a farmer from
the Indian state of Punjab who accidentally crossed the frontier while drunk.
His family members have threatened to commit suicide if he is executed.
Analysts said the uproar over the case was an opportunity to start work on
procedures on how to deal with prisoners.
Both sides have hundreds of prisoners in each other's jails. The majority are
fishermen and civilians who strayed across sea and land borders.
"This is an opportunity to talk about how to treat prisoners humanely and how
to get them home," strategic affairs analyst Jasjit Singh told Reuters. "It's a
do-able thing."
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