Kashmir India

India and Pakistan hit a roadblock Wednesday in their months-long effort to open a bus route that both governments agree would be an important step toward bringing peace to the divided territory of Kashmir.

The prime ministers of India and Pakistan plan to meet here today in an effort to find new grounds for compromise in the long-running conflict over Kashmir. Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz arrived here Tuesday on a tour of regional capitals as head of the South Asian Assn. for Regional Cooperation, which promotes closer economic ties within the region. Aziz has said he will use his visit with Indian leaders to seek progress in peace efforts that began last year.

The leader of moderate Kashmiri separatists warned Thursday that lasting peace between India and Pakistan was impossible unless his people were seated at the negotiating table. During more than a year of talks with Pakistan, India has refused to let Kashmiri leaders have a direct role in possible solutions to the 57-year-old conflict over Kashmir.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made his first visit as India's leader to the disputed Kashmir region Wednesday and offered to hold unconditional peace talks with any separatists there who would shun violence. But a moderate separatist leader expressed disappointment at the invitation, which came as India began a limited withdrawal of troops from the region.

India's prime minister has ordered a reduction in troops in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir this winter, citing a decline in separatist violence in the disputed Himalayan territory. Pakistan said the move would help ease tensions in the territory, divided between the South Asian neighbors but claimed by both in its entirety.

Eleven Muslim rebels and three Indian soldiers were killed Saturday in scattered attacks in the Kashmir region, officials said. In one attack, two soldiers were killed and one was injured when suspected militants threw a grenade in Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu and Kashmir state, shortly after Home Minister Shivraj Patil held a news conference there at the start of a three-day visit.

India said Saturday that it was willing to hold unconditional peace talks with Kashmir's separatist groups, a news agency reported. A government delegation will visit India's Jammu and Kashmir state next month and explore the possibility of talks with the All Party Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella organization of two dozen separatist political and religious groups, Press Trust of India quoted Prakash Jaiswal, the deputy interior minister, as saying.

Opposition parties accused President Pervez Musharraf of betrayal Tuesday after he suggested new options for solving the long-running dispute over Kashmir, including jointly ruling the territory with India. The Pakistani leader surprised his nation, and angered many in the political opposition, when he suggested to diplomats and reporters Monday that Pakistan must drop its long-held demand for a referendum on the territory's future.

Pakistan and India have agreed to another round of talks this year on issues that include the dispute over Kashmir, officials said. This week's announcement was made less than two weeks after the leaders of the nuclear-armed South Asian rivals met in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that it had proposed meeting in November or December.

After their first meeting, the leaders of nuclear rivals India and Pakistan said they had opened a new chapter in their countries' troubled relations, and resolved to work toward a peaceful end to the 57-year-old conflict over Kashmir. In a signal that economic cooperation might ultimately triumph over military conflict, they also agreed to study a plan for a gas pipeline between the countries.