The Change Mariner

'Historic' Kashmir Talks agreed

BBC NEWS:

Pakistan and India say they will start talks next month to resolve their differences, which include the bitterly divisive issue of Kashmir.

The countries' leaders are "confident" the talks will bring peace - "History has been made," Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf told journalists.
The news was announced at the end of a South Asian regional summit in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

A BBC correspondent in Islamabad says the move is a major breakthrough.
Recent months have seen a gradual thaw in relations between the two nuclear rivals after a period of prolonged military confrontation.

"To carry the process of normalisation forward, the president of Pakistan and the prime minister of India agreed to commence the process of a composite dialogue in February 2004," Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha told journalists in Islamabad, reading from a joint statement.