Pakistan and India go to the table

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - In a breakthrough for peace efforts, yesterday Pakistan welcomed India's surprise offer of talks on easing a variety of conflicts between the two nuclear powers.

However, Pakistan was critical of India for canceling a cease-fire in disputed Kashmir, saying the move gives Indian soldiers free rein for "state terrorism against the Kashmiri people."

Still, Pakistan's acceptance of India's gesture represents a major change in efforts to bring the rival nuclear powers to the negotiating table following a two-year lull. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over Kashmir.

Pakistan's military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf will respond "in a positive light" to India's overture, Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar told reporters yesterday in the capital of Islamabad. Wednesday, Indian Defense Minister Jaswant Singh announced both the end of a six-month cease-fire in Kashmir and the invitation to Musharraf for peace talks.

Pakistan has said it is willing to hold talks, but India, until now, insisted it stop cross-border attacks by Islamic militants in Kashmir, a divided Himalayan territory that is a main focus of dispute between the two countries.

Bloody fighting two years ago along the Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan caused the break-up of negotiations. Those talks were aimed at easing numerous conflicts between the South Asian rivals, both of which have nuclear weapons.

The offer to resume talks and the positive response was accompanied by harsh rhetoric from both sides.

The cease-fire's end has "given the Indian forces a carte blanche to continue state terrorism against the Kashmiri people," said Pakistan's Sattar.

"Many terrorist organizations continue to operate from Pakistani soil," said Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Raminder Singh Jassal.