August 16, 1999
Web posted at: 4:15 p.m. EDT (2015 GMT)

NEW DELHI, India -- India and Pakistan will have to find common ground to resume stalled peace talks, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said on Monday.

"A meeting ground will have to be found. Our efforts will be directed towards that," Vajpayee said in response to a question on prospects of bilateral talks at a news conference to release the manifesto of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)- led alliance for the coming elections.

India and Pakistan, which have fought three wars in the past 52 years, exchanged barbs over the weekend as they celebrated the anniversaries of their independence from Britain in 1947.

Vajpayee said talks could not be meaningful as long as Pakistan trained guerrillas fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, the disputed region which has been the cause of two of their wars.

His Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, accused India of human rights violations in the Himalayan region.

The two nuclear neighbors stood on the verge of what could have been their fourth war in May when India launched a military offensive against guerrilla infiltrators in Kashmir, who it said were mainly Pakistani soldiers.

Pakistan, which denies Indian charges of arming Kashmiri separatists, called them "freedom fighters" but agreed under international pressure to seek their withdrawal from Indian territory.

Meanwhile, separatist militants fired at a police station and set off bombs in attacks coinciding with India's Independence Day, officials said.

Police said at least seven people were killed and l7 wounded in Sunday's violence in the northern state of Kashmir and the northeastern state of Assam.

The violence came as Vajpayee made his speech, saying he wants peace, but Pakistan must stop training and arming militants who wage war in Kashmir.

Vajpayee said terrorists are being trained in Pakistan.

Sharif made the same charge against Indian forces. The two rival countries are the world's newest nuclear powers.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.