Ajmal Amir Kasab appeals sentence: source

Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab. — Photo by AP

NEW DELHI: The lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead has approached the Indian Supreme Court asking for his death sentence to be overturned, a court source told AFP Friday.
The source said the request by Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab had been filed via jail authorities in Mumbai, where he has been held since the attacks, and lodged with the secretary general of the court.
“He filed the appeal through the Arthur Road jail authorities,” the source said, asking not to be named.
Pakistani national Kasab was convicted and sentenced by a trial court in Mumbai and the death sentence was confirmed by the state high court.
India has the death sentence for the “rarest of the rare” criminal offences.

Kashmir sours India-Pakistan talks: Indian govt source

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar. — File photo

NEW DELHI: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar’s meeting with Kashmiri separatists soured the atmosphere ahead of peace talks with her Indian counterpart, an Indian government source said Wednesday.
The Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars over it since independence in 1947.
Separatists in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir have waged decades of protests demanding self-rule, while New Delhi considers the whole of the territory an integral part of the country.
Khar, after arriving in New Delhi on Tuesday afternoon, met Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the chairman of the separatist Hurriyat Conference and leader of mass protests against Indian rule last year.
“It was not a good idea at all,” a senior government source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“Since we have already said we are willing to have discussions on all issues with Pakistan, including the Jammu and Kashmir issue, no useful purpose can be served by such exercises,” said the source.
He added that the meeting, at a time when the countries are trying to build trust and confidence in each other, “does not help the process at hand.”
India and Pakistan’s foreign ministers held their first talks in a year on Wednesday, looking to breathe fresh life into a peace process still stifled by the trauma of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
India suspended contacts with Pakistan after the attacks and their peace dialogue has struggled to gain any real traction since its formal resumption earlier this year.
Observers expect little to emerge from Wednesday’s meeting beyond some modest confidence-building measures connected to relatively uncontentious issues such as cross-border trade and people-to-people contacts.

India, Pakistan ministers say ties on ‘right track’

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar (R) shakes hands with Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna (L) prior to a meeting in New Delhi on July 27, 2011. — Photo by AFP

NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan’s foreign ministers hailed a new chapter in relations Wednesday after their first talks in a year attempted to breath fresh life into the states’ stop-start peace process.
In an upbeat assessment after their meeting, Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna said ties were back “on the right track,” while his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar spoke of a “new era” of cooperation.
There was little in the way of substantive agreements to back up the general mood of optimism, with a joint statement envisaging a general bilateral effort to combat terrorism, increase trade and keep the peace dialogue going.
India suspended contacts with Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai attacks which it blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
The peace process has struggled to gain any real traction since its formal resumption earlier this year in an atmosphere of mutual recrimination and mistrust.
“We have some distance to travel, but with an open mind and a constructive approach…I am sure we can reach our desired destination of having a friendly and cooperative relationship,” Krishna said.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence in 1947, two of them triggered by their territorial dispute over Kashmir, which remains a core issue and major hurdle in any future comprehensive peace deal.
In her remarks to the reporters, Khar said there had been “a mindset change” that had turned the resumed peace dialogue into an “uninterrupted and uninterruptable” process.
“A new generation of Indians and Pakistanis will see a relationship that will hopefully be much different from the one that has been experienced in the last two decades,” she said.
Khar, Pakistan’s first female foreign minister, was appointed last week and, at just 34 years of age, some had questioned whether she was experienced enough to handle one of the world’s most fraught cross-border relationships.
At 79, Krishna is 45 years her senior.

Pakistan, India discuss travel, trade in Kashmir

Pakistani and Indian soldiers lower the flags of their countries during a daily ceremony at the Wagah border, July 17, 2011. — Photo by AFP

NEW DELHI: Indian and Pakistani officials on Monday discussed increasing the travel and trade connections in Kashmir as part of recently renewed peace talks.
The overwhelmingly Muslim region is divided between India and Pakistan and fully claimed by both. It was the focus of their three wars since they won independence from Britain in 1947.
Peace talks broke down over a terrorist attack in Mumbai in 2008 by 10 gunmen.
The countries decided to restarted the peace process in February and have since discussed Kashmir and the continuing threat of terrorism.
India said it remained committed to the talks after a bombing attack in Mumbai last week that killed 19 people.
A statement by India’s External Ministry said officials of the two sides exchanged implementation of current agreements in Kashmir and more ways to facilitate travel and trade there.
A weekly bus service now ferries people between the capitals of Indian and Pakistani portions of Kashmir. A limited trade exists in locally produced items like spices, fruits and carpets.
The bus service between the two sides of Kashmir was introduced in 2005 and the barter trade in 2008.
Foreign ministers of the two countries are scheduled to meet later this month in New Delhi to discuss all of their disagreements, including Kashmir.