India yesterday ended a six-month ceasefire in Kashmir and invited the Pakistani military ruler, Gen Pervez Musharra, for peace talks to end five decades of hostility there.
Pakistan promised a positive response, but pro-Pakistan Kashmiri militants dismissed New Delhi's move as "another deception" and vowed to continue their fight.
The Foreign Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, said after a cabinet meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, ended in New Delhi:
"It was expected that various terrorist groups and organisations, mostly foreign, would see reason and recognising the imperatives of peace, dialogue and co-operation shun violence. Regrettably they have not."
Experts saw in Mr Vajpayee's invitation a major shift in New Delhi's approach to Pakistan. India had earlier insisted that it would open doors to talks with Pakistan only after Islamabad ended its support for cross-border terrorism in Kashmir.
In January, a thaw seemed to begin in India-Pakistan relations when Gen Musharraf sent supplies to the victims of India's worst earthquake in 50 years. "India is yet again offering the hand of friendship, reconciliation, co-operation to Pakistan in the expectation that this opportunity shall be positively utilised by them," Mr Singh said.