JAMMU, India (AFP) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrapped up his first official visit to Kashmir with an appeal to militants to lay down their arms, while offering more sweeteners to the revolt-racked region.
"Time has come for the misled youth to come back to the mainstream of politics by eschewing violence... Our doors are open for everyone. We invite you without any preconditions," Singh told a public rally in the state winter capital Jammu.
"I have come with a message that time has now come for a new chapter in Jammu and Kashmir -- a chapter of harmony and development.
"For this, it is very important that there is peace in the state," he said Thursday.
Continuing the message of economic development he began delivering in the summer capital Srinagar on the first day of his visit Wednesday, Singh announced the lifting of a freeze on recruitment in government jobs. The ban was imposed two years ago because of the state's severe financial problems.
In Srinagar, where he first proclaimed the mantra of a "new" Kashmir, the premier had unveiled a 5.3 billion dollar economic package to help rebuild the insurgency-torn state.
On Thursday he visited the Muthi refugee camp for Hindus who fled fighting between Islamic militants and Indian security forces where he said displaced families would be provided with two-roomed tenements "whether in Jammu or Delhi" and an inter-ministerial team set up to look into their grievances.
Earlier, the prime minister chaired a meeting of the Unified Command -- a security body comprising army and civil officials -- and reviewed the security situation.
He was briefed that the level of infiltration of militants from Pakistan had gone down sharply, an officer who was present at the meeting said.
India accuses Pakistan of sending armed militants into Indian Kashmir, charges Islamabad denies.
Next week, Singh is due to meet his Pakistani counterpart Shuakat Aziz in New Delhi to continue peace talks started by the previous Indian government.
Singh, however, reiterated in Kashmir that redrawing the border, including the Line of Control -- a de facto border dividing Indian and Pakistani Kashmir -- was unacceptable.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf responded to Singh's comments Wednesday with a call for flexibility in Kashmir peace talks.
"Flexibility and sincerity cannot be one-sided, but must be displayed bilaterally and mutually if we are to move forward," Musharraf said, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.
"There is a need for demonstration of flexibility by all sides, Pakistan, India and the people of Kashmir."
Singh's visit came as India staged a high-profile pullout of some troops from the state, its first since the revolt broke out in 1989, and the prime minister renewed his pledge to pursue the peace process with Pakistan.
"By deciding to withdraw part of our force we have taken a risk, but it is a calculated risk," Singh told a news conference at the end of his visit.
Asked whether Pakistan should reciprocate by cutting back its troop deployment in its zone of Kashmir, he said: "If they do something like that, it will be a good step."
Meanwhile, moderate Kashmiri separatists said in Srinagar the involvement of Pakistan was essential if their talks with New Delhi on the future of Kashmir were to move forward.
Two rounds of talks with the previous Hindu nationalist government -- defeated in April-May polls by Singh's Congress-led alliance -- had been based on three principles, said separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.
"The three principles were that talks on Kashmir should be unconditional, Kashmir-centric and mandatory involvement of Pakistan in the talks," he said.
"Now it is up to the government of India whether it wants to accept these principles and resolve the issue through talks or it wants to take some other course."
The scenic Himalayan region of Kashmir, held in part by India and Pakistan but claimed in full by both, has sparked two of the three wars between the nuclear-armed rivals since independence from Britain in 1947.
11/18/2004 - 15:28 GMT - AFP