October 11, 2002	Friday	Sha'aban 4, 1423

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COPENHAGEN, Oct 10: The European Union and India failed on Thursday to agree on a common text on the Kashmir dispute.

Instead, the 15-nation bloc urged India to improve relations with Pakistan, which have remained tense since an attack on India’s parliament last December.

“The EU has sent a clear signal to India about restraint,” Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at a news conference at the end of an EU-India summit.

“I expressed the EU’s strong hopes for a peaceful development based on negotiated settlements to all the issues that separate the parties,” said Rasmussen, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.

The joint statement after the summit did not mention Kashmir. Asked why, Rasmussen said: “To be honest, we didn’t agree on a text. We have exchanged views but didn’t think it would facilitate further progress in this process to write a text.”

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said he would like to de-escalate but that Pakistan must take action too.

“De-escalation requires a peaceful atmosphere,” he said. “So if Pakistan stops cross-border terrorism, we will resume our dialogue.”

The EU also expressed concerned about recent missile tests in the region.

“We regret that they have taken place and we urge all parties in the region to do their utmost to de-escalate tensions,” Rasmussen said.

Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said the missile tests were “a completely childish kind of thing” at election time and that EU needed more time before making a final assessment of the Kashmir vote.—Reuters