Indian, Pakistani PMs agree to reduce Kashmir tensions

The leaders of India and Pakistan pledged Sunday to find ways to restore calm on their disputed border in Kashmir as an initial step toward reconciliation, an Indian official said. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has advocated an end to historic tensions with India since he swept to power in May elections, held his first meeting with his counterpart Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the annual UN summit. An Indian official said that the two leaders, who met for more than an hour in a New York hotel, decided to task senior military officers to "find effective means to restore the ceasefire" in divided Kashmir. "Both agreed that the precondition for forward movement in the relationship, which they both desire, is really an improvement of the situation on the LoC," Indian national security adviser Shivshankar Menon told reporters, referring to the Line of Control in the Himalayan territory. The talks come after militants raided an army base on the Indian side of Kashmir on Thursday, killing 10 people in an attack seen as aimed at holding back reconciliation efforts between the historic rivals. India accuses Pakistan of sponsoring militants, though the violence has subsided sharply since the 1990s and early 2000s. But militants linked to Pakistan carried out a sensational attack in 2008 in the Indian metropolis of Mumbai, killing 166 people and laying siege to an iconic hotel. Menon said that Sharif promised "there would be action" on punishing extremists over the Mumbai attack, and said the talks were friendly. But he added: "As for how useful and productive the meeting was, I think the only proof will be in the months to come." Sharif and Singh extended invitations to visit the other country, but no dates were set, Menon said. Sharif, in a speech to the UN General Assembly, on Friday called for a "new beginning" with India and denounced the developing nations' years of intense military development as a waste of resources. But Singh, who did not speak publicly on Sunday, has said that Pakistan must stop being "the epicenter of terrorism" in South Asia. "For progress to be made, it is imperative that the territory of Pakistan and the areas under its control are not utilized for aiding or abetting terrorism," Singh said from the UN podium on Saturday. "It is equally important that the terrorist machinery that draws its sustenance from Pakistan be shut down," he said. One new leader, one on way out Singh resisted domestic pressure for military retaliation after the Mumbai attack five years ago. The Indian leader instead pressed Pakistan to prosecute the hardline group Lashkar-e-Taiba and has said he has been disappointed by Islamabad's response. The 81-year-old Singh, who was born in Pakistan before the subcontinent's partition in 1947, has led India since 2004 and is unlikely to stand for another term in elections next year. The Hindu nationalist main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has tapped as its electoral candidate Narendra Modi, who in the past has been staunchly critical of Pakistan. The meeting is the first between the two countries' leaders since Sharif won May elections. Singh met in August last year with Pakistan's then president, Asif Ali Zardari, on the sidelines of a summit in Iran of the Non-Aligned Movement. Sharif, who earlier in his career maintained relations with Islamist groups, has tried to reassure India after his election as he puts a top priority on reviving Pakistan's troubled economy. After his election, Pakistan freed nearly 340 Indian fishermen in a goodwill gesture and Sharif called for greater economic cooperation with the larger neighbor. Sharif was prime minister during the mini Kargil war in 1999 when Pakistan-linked forces infiltrated remote Himalayan terrain on the Indian side of Kashmir, just months after India's then premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee traveled across the border with high hopes of reconciliation.