Sunday, September 29, 2013

Repairing India - Pakistan Relations

India, Pakistan leaders say they want better ties but reach no concrete agreements
By Paul Eckert, Reuters, Sep 29, 2013

(Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, agreed on Sunday to work to restore a cross-border ceasefire after a spate of shootings in order to improve strained ties, officials said.

Singh and Sharif met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, amid heightened tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors over the Kashmir region, sparked by series of fatal clashes on their de facto Himalayan border.

India emerged from the meeting of more than an hour calling the talks "useful" while Pakistan called the atmosphere "very positive."

They both expressed a desire to improve ties but agreed that "peace and tranquility across the LOC (Line of Control) is a precondition," Indian national security adviser Shivshankar Menon told reporters in New York.

"We need to address the issues that we face today and then we hope to move it forward," he said.

Pakistan's Secretary for Foreign Affairs Jalil Abbas Jilani told reporters the New York meeting set the stage for future cooperation even though they did not reach specific agreements.

"The most significant aspect of the meeting was that the leaders expressed their commitment to ... better relations between the two countries," he told reporters at a separate New York briefing.

"Both sides wish to see a better India-Pakistan relationship than we have today," said Menon.

A series of fatal clashes along the so-called Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan have killed at least eight soldiers from both countries in less than two months. The South Asia Terrorism Portal, a website that tracks the violence, says this year's toll is 44 members of the security forces, up from 17 for all of last year.

In their speeches to the U.N. General Assembly, both leaders said they wanted to improve relations between their countries, which have fought three wars since becoming independent from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.

But Singh told the assembly on Saturday that neighboring Pakistan is the "epicenter of terrorism in our region," and in talks with Sharif he urged Pakistan to address Indian complaints that Pakistan is the source of cross-border attacks, Menon said.

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Related:
India and Pakistan Talk, but Tensions Are High - New York Times
India describes PMs meeting as "constructive and useful" - The News
Indian FM accuses ISI, Pakistan Army of undermining peace efforts - The News
Editorial: Changed order - Express Tribune

Thursday, September 05, 2013

Jinnah and the Idea of Pakistan

Indian media: Jinnah's speeches given to Pakistan
BBC, September 5, 2013

India has handed over rare audio recordings of Muhammad Ali Jinnah's two important speeches to Pakistan in a "goodwill gesture", media reports say.

The recordings are precious to Pakistan because of Mr Jinnah's status as the country's founder and its first leader.

The first of the two speeches was delivered in Delhi on 3 June 1947 in which Mr Jinnah gave his opinion on holding a referendum in the North West Frontier Province (now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan) to decide whether the region wanted to join India or Pakistan.

The second speech was given at the first Constituent Assembly on 11 August 1947, The Hindu reports.

The Pakistan Broadcasting Cooperation had requested the All India Radio in 2012 to provide a copy of these speeches.

"We are very happy and thankful to All India Radio...This will become part of our archives," the Zee News website quotes Javed Khan Jadoon, Pakistan Radio's Head of Current Affairs, as saying.

For complete story, click here

Background:
It lost his dream, but can Pakistan find Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s speech on his vision for the nation's future? - The Independent
For text of Jinnah's August 11, 1947 speech, click here
Pakistan's independence celebrations omit Jinnah's words on tolerance - Guardian, August 14, 2012