Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh speak Sept. 16 after a meeting in Havana, Cuba.

Describing their meeting as a breakthrough for peace, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed on Cabinet-level talks by their foreign secretaries, and said Singh had accepted an invitation to travel to Pakistan to further the process.

"I look forward to a purposeful visit at a time to be determined through diplomatic channels," Singh said after the leaders reached the agreement on the sidelines of the Nonaligned Movement summit in Havana, Cuba.

Their joint statement said they had a "cordial, frank exchange of views on all aspects of India and Pakistan relations," and that both leaders "strongly condemn all acts of terrorism."

New Delhi blames Pakistan's support of the militants for stalling the peace process between the nuclear-armed neighbors, which have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, two over the Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Pakistan's government denies training and funding the Islamic militants, and said it had nothing to do with the train bombings, but it has acknowledged offering the rebels moral and political support.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 23, 2006
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