Rivals look to break fresh ground

By Sanjoy Majumder BBC India correspondent

The meeting was the first after the Mumbai blasts

After a near deep freeze in their relations for two months, India and Pakistan's peace process received a boost after their leaders met in Cuba.

In their talks, which are being described as a breakthrough, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pervez Musharraf signalled a resumption of peace talks which have lumbered on for more than two years.

And the leaders appeared to break fresh ground in their decision to tackle terrorism jointly.

On the surface the decision announced on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned summit, apparently at Delhi's initiative, is radical.

Until now Delhi had always blamed Islamabad for terrorist attacks on Indian soil.

Soon after the Mumbai bombings in July in which more than 180 people were killed, India said militants had carried it out with assistance from groups within Pakistan.

Islamabad rejected the charge, demanding evidence in what is a familiar routine of reactionary rhetoric from both countries.

New approach

Now Delhi very clearly is making the distinction between the establishment in Pakistan and groups within the country who have links to militant organizations in India.

It constitutes a dilution and a surrender of our position on terrorism G Parthasarathy Retired Indian diplomat

Many of these groups are opposed to President Musharraf who has himself survived several assassination attempts.

"The fact is terror is a threat to Pakistan. And it has been a threat to India for a long time now," said India's high commissioner to Pakistan, Shiv Shankar Menon, soon after the Havana meeting.

"Both of us need to deal with it. We have not had a collective mechanism to deal with it. We have it now," said Mr Menon, who is going to be India's next foreign secretary and will be leading the negotiations with Islamabad.

The meeting in Cuba came after days of painstaking backroom negotiations between diplomats on both sides.

It also came after a growing sense in India that the tactic of blaming Pakistan after attacks in India was paying few dividends.

In the past, Delhi would often turn the screws on Islamabad to build international pressure on Pakistan.

But with growing Western concern over the role of radical groups in Pakistan following the London attacks last year and another alleged plot in August, that is no longer necessary or even useful.

More importantly, Delhi was able to provide no real evidence to back its claims that the Mumbai blasts were carried out by groups from within Pakistan.

Murmurs of dissent

Some believe that it makes more sense for Pakistan to be co-opted in India's fight against terrorism, with President Musharraf as an ally.

Ties across the border have warmed up

But there is also an implicit recognition that this is a tactic fraught with danger.

The political right in India, including the main opposition BJP, has already signalled its disapproval.

BJP president Rajnath Singh said there was a "total disconnect between the government and the popular public opinion on terror attacks frequently launched in several parts of India".

Others are more blunt.

"It constitutes a dilution and a surrender of our position on terrorism," says G Parthasarathy, a former Indian ambassador to Pakistan.

The immediate result of the fresh agreement is that the foreign secretaries of both countries will meet within a month in Delhi, to take the peace process forward.

In a statement after their talks, the two leaders said they had "decided to continue the search for mutually acceptable options for a peaceful negotiated settlement of all issues, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir".

The carefully chosen words - including the use of the word "options" rather than "solution" to the Kashmir dispute - are at least a recognition that the two countries are a long way from finding any middle ground on the issue.

And while on the ground there is a sense of relief that things are moving once again, there is also the acceptance that all it will take is another major attack to bring the process to a halt again.