Pakistan Asks India for Talks on Kashmir
The leader of Pakistan urged India on Monday to enter into peace talks over Kashmir, as New Delhi set a Friday deadline for Pakistani forces to withdraw from India’s side of the disputed territory.
“Come, let us talk,” Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif urged his Indian counterpart, Atal Behari Vajpayee, in a televised broadcast.
“More courage is required to avoid war than to start one. Only people who believe in collective suicide can start nuclear war,” he said.
Pakistan has supported a Muslim insurgency in Kashmir for a decade, and Sharif’s remarks came as fighters who infiltrated in May began pulling out. India put the brakes on a military offensive but warned that there was no cease-fire and imposed the Friday deadline.
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