Poonch district hopes for better relations with Pak. after PM-level talks

Visitors from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), who came to Jammu and Kashmir to meet their relatives, welcomed the talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif and said that the interaction could bring about much-awaited friendly relations between the two countries.

"If the honourable Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, keeps the promises he made, it would build friendly relations and love between the two countries and peace would prevail. Both the countries would grow as it would help the economies to prosper as well as enhance trade and travel between them," Bashir Ahmed, a custodian of travel and trade along the Line of Control (LoC) said.

On September 29, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif for the first time in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where the two leaders discussed steps to normalize the relationship between the two countries.

National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon told the media, after the two prime ministers met, that both India and Pakistan have agreed that honouring the November 26, 2003 ceasefire agreement, and improving the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) is a precondition for taking the bilateral relationship forward.

"They (Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and Nawaz Sharif) both agreed that the precondition for forward movement in the relationship, which they both desire, is really an improvement in the situation along the LoC, where there has been repeated ceasefire violations and incidents," Menon said in New York.

"My understanding is that both sides want to see a better India-Pakistan relationship than we have today. ...Right now, our effort is focused on making it possible to move towards the broader dialogue and that stage hasn't come yet," he added.

Menon also said that it was decided to task the Directors General of Military Operations on both sides to prepare a strategy for effective restoration of the ceasefire along the LoC, and added that the impact of the proposed solutions can only be judged with time.