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India, Pakistan relations thawing
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- In yet another step toward the resumption of civil relations between India and Pakistan, New Delhi says it will resume a bus service to the Pakistani city of Lahore as soon as the logistics can be worked out. India also said it was releasing 130 Pakistanis held in Indian jails on trespassing charges. Indian officials said they were willing to release the prisoners as soon as Pakistani authorities say they are willing to accept them. "The prime minister of India wants to emphasize that people-to-people links between both countries must be restored as soon as possible and that these decisions are part of that," Navtej Sarna, a spokesman for external affairs, said Monday. The announcement comes a little more than a week after Pakistan released 20 Indians from its jails, a move described by New Delhi as a "welcomed humanitarian gesture that's creating a better atmosphere.'' In another step toward resuming diplomatic ties between the two south Asian neighbors, Pakistan and India each named a high commissioner to the other country.(Pakistan appoints envoy to India) India has not had a high commissioner, or ambassador, in Pakistan since late 2001. Pakistan has not had a high commissioner in India since early 2002. India has also relaxed preconditions for talks with Pakistan and will not seek a halt to cross-border incursions by Islamic militants before agreeing to a dialogue, India's Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said in an interview published Monday. Speaking to Britain's Financial Times newspaper, Sinha said the stopping of "cross-border terrorism" was a precondition of a "successful outcome" for any talks, but not a factor in the talks actually taking place. "If this was a precondition then (Prime Minister Atal Behari) Vajpayee would not have extended the 'hand of friendship' to Pakistan last month," the paper quoted him as saying. But, he added, "for the dialogue to succeed it is essential that cross-border terrorism comes to an end." Speaking of a "road map" towards a future summit meeting, Sinha said the two sides would take a series of slow but deliberate steps to "normalize" relations. They would include a resumption of sporting ties, transport links and full diplomatic relations. "When you are talking of a road map, we are clear in our minds what steps must be taken in both regards to restoring normalcy and in regard to the dialogue process," the FT quoted Sinha as saying. The paper said Sinha also hinted that India would concede that Pakistan did not have control over all militant groups if it took firm action against those it does control. First contactThe thaw in diplomatic tension between the two countries started in April. Pakistani Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali called India's Vajpayee -- the first contact between the leaders in 18 months -- and said he was ready to resolve all issues between the countries. Vajpayee announced he was willing to open talks with Pakistan on Kashmir, providing Islamabad stops what he called "cross-border infiltration" into the Indian part of Kashmir. The Kashmiri situation has plagued the two nations since their inception more than 50 years ago. Two of the three wars India and Pakistan have fought were over the Himalayan region. But the stakes have grown higher -- both India and Pakistan have tested nuclear weapons, typically in tit-for-tat moves. They moved to the brink of another war last year during a standoff over the Kashmir region, sparked by a deadly attack on India's parliament that was blamed on militants tied to Pakistan. The attack led India to remove its high commissioner from Pakistan. In February, Pakistan ordered five lower-level Indian diplomats to leave the country hours after New Delhi said it was expelling five Pakistani diplomats. India blames Pakistan for arming, training and encouraging cross-border militancy that has claimed more than 30,000 lives in Kashmir since a separatism movement took root in 1989. Pakistan denies the charge and insists it provides only moral and diplomatic support for the Kashmiri people's right to self-determination. -- CNN's producer Suhasini Haidar, New Delhi Bureau Chief Satinder Bindra and Islamabad Bureau Chief Ash-har Quraishi contributed to this report.
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