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Hawkish Advani seeks peace with Pakistan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-31 17:10

Indian opposition leader Lal Krishna Advani, blamed by many Pakistanis for the breakdown of peace efforts four years ago, met Pakistan's prime minister on Tuesday and said he wanted to push South Asian rapprochement.

Advani, who arrived in Islamabad late on Monday, was born in what became Pakistan in the bloody partition of the subcontinent in 1947.

"My present visit is to see the peace process that was initiated is furthered," told a news conference after meeting Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz (R), greets Indian opposition leader Lal Krishna Advani upon his arrival at prime minister house in Islamabad May 31, 2005. Advani, the president of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), arrived in Islamabad late on Monday. [Reuters]

"The visit will reinforce the peace initiatives and movement towards normalcy."

Advani's visit comes at a time when nuclear armed India and Pakistan are trying to maintain the momentum in peace efforts that began early last year.

Last week, the two sides failed to make progress towards demilitarising the Siachen, the world's highest battlefield, where their troops have been facing each other since the 1980s.

Indian opposition leader Lal Krishna Advani makes a Hindu-style greeting before leaving the prime minister house in Islamabad May 31, 2005. [Reuters]

They also reported no progress on resolving a boundary dispute over the Sir Creek estuary in the Arabian Sea.

Advani said he had agreed with Aziz that progress on all issues between Pakistan and India should move in tandem with progress on Kashmir, a dispute over which the two countries have been to war twice, and came close to a third one in 2002.

Advani is president of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and a member of its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which is known for its anti-Pakistan stance and perceived bias against Muslims and Christians.

Advani's hawkish tendencies are blamed by many in Pakistan for the collapse of peace talks between the then-BJP government and Pakistan in 2001.

But it was BJP leader and then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who relaunched peace efforts with President Pervez Musharraf early last year.

Advani, who has been trying to dispel his image of a hardline Hindu nationalist in recent years, was also due to meet Musharraf and visit his old school in Karachi.

On Monday, before heading to Pakistan, Advani said India supported normalisation of relations with Pakistan and his visit would contribute to the peace process.

"There is unanimity in the country over normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan and elimination of terrorism," he said.

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