PAKISTAN: Pakistan yesterday offered to end the nearly two-year long ban on Indian flights over its territory, in the latest sign of an improvement in relations between the neighbouring nuclear rivals who came close to war last year.
"As a gesture of goodwill, Pakistan will agree to the resumption of over-flights with India in the talks being held in New Delhi" President Musharraf told a visiting Indian delegation of businessmen and intellectuals in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
"Pakistan is sincere in its efforts for peace in the region," Mr Musharraf added on the sixth day of a ceasefire between India and Pakistan along their common, disputed northern Kashmir frontier over which they have fought three of their four wars since independence 56 years ago. India offered no reaction to Mr Muhsarraf's offer ahead of today's meeting in Delhi between civil aviation officials from either side to discuss overlying and resumption of air links. Earlier negotiations in Islamabad in August on this had broken down after Pakistan demanded an assurance from India that it would never sever air links unilaterally again.
The over-flight ban, affects India more than it does Pakistan forcing it to divert its international flights to the West via longer and consequently more expensive detours. It also prohibits either side from flying to destinations in each other's country, causing visitors problems.
Bilateral air links and over- flights, along with rail and road connections, between the two sides were severed on January 1 2002 after India accused Pakistan of sponsoring an attack by five suicide gunmen on its Parliament three weeks earlier in which 14 people died. Pakistan denied any involvement in the attack, but reciprocated India's moves of cutting transportation links, mobilising its military and preparing for war, withdrawing its envoy and halving the staff in its diplomatic mission.
Over the past year the two armies have been withdrawn, the envoys returned and the bus link between Delhi and the Pakistani border city of Lahore resumed service earlier this year as tensions ebbed.
Security officials in Delhi said Mr Musharraf's offer on restoring air links was part of an attempt to accelerate the peace process ahead of a summit of South Asian leaders in Islamabad in January that India's Prime Minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee will attend.
And though senior foreign office officials have declared that it unlikely that Mr Vajpayee would meet senior Pakistani leaders on the sidelines of the summit, the prime minister stated last week that he would be "happy" to see his Pakistani counterpart Zafarullah Khan Jamali. Vajpayee also did not rule out meeting President Musharraf.
India and Pakistan, who have been engaged in half-hearted peace moves, marred by antagonistic outbursts over the past few months, are under intense US pressure to reduce tension and begin peace talks.
"Washington desperately wants to defuse the India-Pakistan stand-off over Kashmir that threatened last year to escalate into a nuclear exchange", a senior military officer said. Consequently, India's Hindu nationalist-led coalition government has also agreed to hold talks with Kashmir's main separatist alliance sometime later this month.