M A I N   N E W S

India-Pakistan ties
One more ice-breaker
In a confidence-building measure after PM’s cricket invite, visitors from PoK to J&K allowed to stay for six months
Ashok Tuteja/TNS

No dilution in stand The sources asserted that India’s ’gesture’ did not in any way mean there was dilution in New Delhi’s stand that Pakistan bring to justice the masterminds of the Mumbai terror attacks. This would be raised by India at the home secretary-level talks. 1st civilian Pak leaders to be invited President Zardari and PM Gilani are the first civilian Pakistan leaders to have been invited to witness a cricket match in India. Both Zia-ul-Haq, who witnessed a cricket match at Jaipur in 1987, and Pervez Musharraf, who watched a one-day tie with PM Singh in 2005, were military rulers. Indications are that Gilani would be visiting Mohali to watch the match.

New Delhi, March 26
A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited Pakistani leaders to watch the India-Pakistan cricket match at Mohali on Wednesday, India, in a major a major Confidence-Building Measure (CBM), announced its decision to increase the duration of stay for visitors from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to Jammu and Kashmir (J & K) to six months.

“To encourage more people-to-people contacts across the Line of Control (LoC), the Government of India has unilaterally decided to increase the stay period for the persons visiting J & K from PoK to six months with multiple entries,’’ the External Affairs Ministry said. At present, the validity of the entry permit is for four weeks and the designated authorities for cross-LoC travel (Passport Office, Srinagar and Passport Office, Jammu) will extend the stay period by another two weeks. Based on the recommendation of the J & K Government, the MEA extends the stay for a further period of two weeks in certain cases such as health or family emergencies.

New Delhi’s announcement is being seen as another attempt by India to reassure Pakistan of its sincerity to normalise relations between the two countries. The home secretaries of the two countries are scheduled to meet in New Delhi from March 28 to 30 to discuss terrorism and other related issues. Meanwhile, India is awaiting a response from Islamabad to the PM’s invite to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Reza Gilani to witness the India-Pakistan Cricket world Cup semi-final on March 30, being billed as mother of all matches.

Analysts are not surprised over the PM’s attempt to reach out to the Pakistani leadership since he has all along held the view that the subcontinent can’t realise its full potential unless relations between India and Pakistan are not normalised. They see the invitation as “a smart diplomatic initiative through cricket” undertaken after the two countries decided to resume the dialogue process, stalled since the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Official sources, meanwhile, confirmed that the PM had consulted his top aides before sending invitations to the Pakistani leaders. The feeling among his aides was that the cricket match would provide a great opportunity to the leaders of the two countries to meet in a relaxed atmosphere and informally take stock of Indo-Pak relations.

President Zardari and PM Gilani are the first civilian Pakistan leaders to have been invited to witness a cricket match in India. Both Zia-ul-Haq, who witnessed a cricket match at Jaipur in 1987, and Pervez Musharraf, who watched a one-day tie with PM Singh in 2005, were military rulers. Indications are that Gilani would be visiting Mohali to watch the match.

The sources, however, asserted that India’s ’gesture’ did not in any way mean there was dilution in New Delhi’s stand that Pakistan bring to justice the masterminds of the Mumbai terror attacks. This would be raised by India at the home secretary- level talks too.