18 April 2005	Monday	08 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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WASHINGTON, April 17: The Sunday newspapers in the United States pointed out that President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s visit to India was “itself a breakthrough”, even if it the talks do not produce a major breakthrough. The US media, including major television channels, showed a keen interest in the visit and one television commentator called it “the right step in the right direction”.

Major newspapers treated the visit as an important international event and most of them published reports and commentaries on the visit on Saturday as well. But on Sunday, smaller news outlets also ran full-length stories on the meeting between President Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

On Sunday The Washington Post reported that the leaders of India and Pakistan had agreed to work to roll back their military deployments on the Himalayan glacier that is believed to be the world’s highest battlefield.

The report said that Gen Musharraf’s visit aimed at pushing forward a 15-month-old peace process, which began with the signing of a peace agreement in Islamabad in January 2004.

“Perhaps the most significant decision was to create a joint committee to reduce the deployment of soldiers at the Siachen Glacier, which is claimed by both the countries,” the paper said.

The report pointed out that

at Siachen more soldiers die each

year from cold or frostbite, than enemy fire.

American news channel CNN reported that the two leaders also discussed the possibility of reducing the number of troops deployed along their borders.

President Musharraf appeared “very pleased” with his talks with Mr Singh and called it “a good sign for peace in the subcontinent”, the report said.

Another report, carried by a US news agency, said that Pakistan is expected to allow a bus service between Amritsar and the Sikh holy place of Nankana Saheb to bring Sikh pilgrims. The two sides are expected to announce the opening of the new bus service soon, the report said.

The official Voice of America radio reported that the so-called “cricket diplomacy” meeting between President Musharraf and Prime Minister Singh was “warm, and focused on improving cultural and economic ties as means of bridging their dispute over Kashmir”.

The meeting may lead to increased transportation links across the disputed border in Kashmir, like the bus link the two nations inaugurated this month to reunite divided families, the report said.

Almost all the US newspapers and television channels reported that the Indian prime minister had told Gen Musharraf it was not possible to redraw the map in Kashmir, but he favoured bringing together the people living on both sides of the Line of Control.

A prominent US financial news wire, Bloomberg, reported that India and Pakistan had agreed to revive a joint business commission. The commission, which has not met since 1989, can boost bilateral trade between the two neighbours, the report said.

The dispatch quoted a 2002 World Bank report as showing that India’s per capita income was $470, compared with $420 in Pakistan. India’s $655 billion economy grew 8.5 per cent in year to March 2004, the fastest in 15 years, compared with a 6.4 per cent growth for Pakistan’s $82 billion gross domestic product, the report said.

Another report pointed out that although Amritsar was only 56 kilometres from Lahore there was only a single rail link between the two cities.

The Los Angeles Times recalled that this was President Musharraf’s first visit to India since he held “a bitter summit” in Agra with the then Indian prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpyee, four years ago.

“President Musharraf’s tone on the current visit is more measured than it was during a failed summit in 2001,” said the report.

The L.A. Times recalled that in 2001 an agreement to settle the Kashmir conflict was nearly reached, but the effort collapsed at the last minute amid accusations of betrayal from both sides.

The USA Today observed: “While there is little sign of impending breakthroughs on Kashmir, there may be a new common meeting ground.”

The report noted that both sides have recently mentioned replacing the heavily militarized Line of Control in Kashmir with a “soft border”, which would allow for comparatively free travel and trade.

In a report titled “Musharraf in India for peace, prayers and cricket”, the Boston Globe said that the Pakistani leader’s visit, originally planned as an informal trip to watch cricket, had taken on the air of a summit, although both sides shied away from calling it one.

“After almost 60 years of hostility and three wars, no one is expecting a major breakthrough during his three-day visit,” the report said. “Rather, the visit itself is a breakthrough, the latest in a slow and painful peace process begun two years ago this month,” it added.