Pak, India to halt building army posts in J&K

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India agreed at peace talks here on Thursday they would not set up any new military posts along the heavily defended frontier in Jammu and Kashmir.

But the Indian side rejected a Pakistani proposal to move heavy artillery outside the boundaries of the state, a Pakistani official said.

The announcements came after a third round of talks on conventional confidence-building measures, held as part of a slow-moving peace process launched by the arch rivals in January 2004.

In a joint statement after the talks, India and Pakistan said they had reached agreement on no development of new posts and defence works along the Line of Control (LoC), which has divided the region for decades.

The two sides also said they would hold quarterly meetings between commanders along the LoC.They further agreed to quickly repatriate civilians who inadvertently cross the 760-km frontier. In the past many Kashmiris from both sides who crossed the LoC by accident have spent years in jail.

The statement said the talks were held in a 'cordial and constructive atmosphere.'  Pakistani delegation chief Tariq Osman Hyder later told reporters that his side had made a very major proposal to move large guns, rockets and mortars out of the region, saying they were only needed for offensive operations.

"The Indian side was not ready to accept this and their point of view was that it is their sovereign right to keep their formation," he said.    "We trust... the Indian side may wish to come back to this."