India upbeat over peace talks with Pakistan

AFP, New Delhi
Indian schoolgirls perform a routine during a ceremony for the country's 58th Independence Day celebrations in Bangalore yesterday. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that peace talks with neighbouring Pakistan over Kashmir had achieved "some success", as the nation celebrated its independence amid high security. PHOTO: AFP
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said yesterday that peace talks with nuclear-armed rival Pakistan over Kashmir had achieved "some success", as the nation celebrated its 58th anniversary of independence amid high security.

However Singh in a 90-minute address also warned that security forces will deal with armed insurgents in the Himalayan territory with an "iron hand."

"There seems to be some success in our search for peace and harmony now," Singh said from behind a bullet-proof screen at the Mughal-built Red Fort in New Delhi.

"The composite dialogue process with Pakistan is continuing," he said of peace talks, which began in January 2004 and aim to resolve all differences, including the festering dispute over Kashmir.

"As a result, we have been able to reopen the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway which was a long-pending demand of the people and restarted the bus service on this route, a step which has been widely welcomed.

"Talks are also going on to open similar links from points in other states," Singh said of the first bus service in 50 years between the two divided zones of Kashmir which began in April.

The comments came less than a week after India and Pakistan agreed to give each other advance notice of the testing of ballistic missiles and to set up a hotline to prevent an accidental nuclear conflict.