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CNN Live Saturday

Leaders of India and Pakistan Shake Hands

Aired January 05, 2002 - 16:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: There's also been what some are calling a reassuring sign regarding another international conflict. Today, the leaders of India and Pakistan shook hands during a regional summit in Nepal. The Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf addressed the meeting and called for the countries to work together toward peace. He then extended a hand to Indian prime minister. He reluctantly met his counterpart halfway, but he says he wants Mr. Musharraf to back up his gesture by ending support for terrorism.

Some diplomatic officials are hopeful for some resolution between the two nuclear powers.

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ROBERT OAKLEY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO PAKISTAN: I expect the tension to continue to decline. I think that the realization on the part of India, certainly the prime minister and the foreign minister, that General Musharraf has made a major change in direction, which began sometime ago and is continuing and accelerating now, will increase and the tensions will go down.

The United States has played a superb role in handling sort of the diplomatic side of this, to convince both sides to do what needed to be done. General Musharraf realized that these groups constitute a terrible threat to Pakistan, not just to India, and is taking the actions he has to take. But he's going to have to take them gradually; it can't all be done at once.

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CALLAWAY: Well, despite today's developments at the summit in Nepal, India and Pakistan's armies continued to exchange shell fire across the line dividing Kashmir. Tens of thousands of troops from both countries have been stationed along this 1,100-mile frontier since December 13. And CNN's Ash-Har Quraishi has more on this disputed region.

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ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kashmir. One poet said it's "where the world ends and heaven begins." For centuries, the majestic area has been conquered again and again, passed from ruler to ruler. The Pakistani army took us on a short tour of a post on the line of control, which divides the region of Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

CAPTAIN SHABBIR, PAKISTAN ARMY: Go 5 o'clock, 100 yards up, you can see the stone wall. Another Indian post. So this is a series of posts, after every 50 to 60 yards.

QURAISHI: The line of control, or cease-fire line, extends from east to west through the region of Kashmir. It's made up of a series of Indian and Pakistani posts zigzagging across the area, connecting to the international border.

In 1999, fighting broke out over the control of a forward post in Kargil. It was one of the bloodiest battles between the two nations in years, leaving hundreds dead.

(on camera): This forward post on the line of control is considered relatively quiet. Pakistani troops sit just across a ravine from their Indian counterparts on the other side. The Jehlum (ph) river just behind me forms a naturally portion of the line of control.

With tensions still high here, commanders at this post have been instructed to either apprehend or shoot anyone trying to cross it.

(voice-over): The current troop build-up along the border is considered especially dangerous. Not only because of the number of troops involved, but because they are deployed along the entire border between India and Pakistan. Skirmishes over the line of control are routine. Any firing over the international border, however, would be a declaration of war.

Hope that the leaders of these two countries can calm the situation is still strong. But until a diplomatic solution is reached, Indians and Pakistanis sit face-to-face in Kashmir and along the international border, waiting for someone to make a move.

Ash-Har Quraishi, CNN, on the Pakistani line of control in Kashmir.

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