Musharraf writes to Vajpayee accepting talks offer

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday formally accepted India's offer to hold peace talks over the disputed Kashmir region and other issues. "I accept your invitation to me and my wife to visit India with great pleasure," Musharraf said in a letter to Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

"We wish to see a stable prosperous India at peace with its neighbours," the letter said.

Musharraf's letter came four days after Vajpayee broke a two-year lull in high-level talks between the two rival nuclear powers by inviting the Pakistani leader to India.

While announcing the peace invitation, India at the same time said it was ending a six-month cease-fire in Kashmir - a move that drew sharp criticism from Pakistan. The Himalayan region is claimed by both nations. Two of the three wars fought between India and Pakistan since Independence in 1947 were fought over Kashmir.

In his letter on Tuesday, Musharraf said he looks "forward to sincere and candid discussions ... to resolve the issue of Jammu and Kashmir in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people." Jammu and Kashmir is what the state is called in India, which controls two-thirds of the disputed region.

Musharraf said Pakistan is also "ready to discuss all other outstanding issues between our two countries as well."

It was not immediately clear when the meeting between Vajpayee and Musharraf would take place. Nor was it clear if representatives of Kashmiri militant groups, which are fighting for either independence or merger with Pakistan, would attend. (AP)