India, Pak leave history behind to take new path Part 2.

And as Manmohan Singh read it out to the media, Musharraf stood by his side, underscoring that the two sides are in total sync on the contents of the statement.

Musharraf, who had earlier said that people's wish for peace had overtaken leaders and governments, described the outcome of this visit as beyond his expectations. "The achievements are more than I expected in all areas," he told a meeting of editors, attributing them to the “openness and very flexible approach on both sides, including on Kashmir".

The two sides reaffirmed the commitments made in the Joint Press Statement of Jan 6, 2004, issued in Islamabad and the Joint Statement issued after their meeting in New York on Sep 24, 2004 - to resolve all outstanding issues including Kashmir through negotiations, with Pakistan committing to not allowing territories under its control to be used for terrorist activities directed against India.

"They were satisfied with the discussions and expressed their determination to work together to carry forward the process and to bring the benefit of peace to their people", Monday's joint statement said.

The two leaders also agreed to pursue further measures to enhance interaction and cooperation across the Line of Control (LoC) -- which divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan -- including agreed meeting points for divided families, trade, pilgrimages and cultural interaction and reopening of the consulates in Mumabi and Karachi.

Both condemned attempts to disrupt the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service and welcomed its successful operationalisation. "The two leaders pledged that they would not allow terrorism to impede the peace process," the statement said.

The talks were remarkable for their sense of realism, for there was agreement that the Kashmir dispute, "core issue" for Pakistan, "cannot be solved in one meeting," as Manmohan Singh told members of the Editors' Guild of India after bidding farewell to Musharraf.

The prime minister said such disputes are more amenable to resolution if one looked at it more as a human problem than as a territorial problem and removed restrictions on the movement of people, trade, investment and ideas.
He stressed that reconciliation is a process and not a one-off decision and said Pakistan should not expect an overnight solution to the Kashmir issue that needed a step-by-step approach for resolution as he ruled out "re-drawing" of boundaries.

Musharraf, who in the past had insisted that the Kashmir issue is the key to normalisation of ties, said he was not "unifocal" on it, but said it could not be brushed under the carpet."We may be having very good relations now, I may be having very good relations with (Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh, but nobody is permanent in the world," said the president, who escaped two assassination attempts last year.

"If we don't resolve, it may erupt at some time in the future. It is my earnest belief that unless we resolve the dispute it can erupt again under different environment and under different leadership," he said.

"Therefore, we must go to resolve all issues, including the core issue of Kashmir" he said, emphasising the need for thinking "out of the box."