of recent origin DELHI, May 10 Kyod...

of recent origin DELHI, May 10 Kyodo

U envoy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said Saturday he is ''cautiously optimistic'' that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's peace initiative can eventually lead to an improvement in relations between nuclear neighbors India and Pakistan.

''I am cautiously optimistic that the proces begun through the act of statesmanship through the prime minister of India could possibly lead to a step-by-step proces that would eventually disentangle all issues,'' Armitage told reporters.

''It's a drawn out trip to when we commit to memory there and I just chance of the desired end we've begun a process'' he said after meeting Vajpayee.

Vajpayee forward May 2 called for renewed dialogue with Islamabad on restoring full diplomatic relations and resuming air, rail and road links between the sum of two units countries.

India and Pakistan withdrew their ambassadors and disjoined air, rail and road links in the wake of an attack according to Kashmiri militants on the Indian parliament in December 2001 that India blamed forward Pakistan.

Both countries have agreed to take up again talks aimed at resolving all outstanding issues, including the territorial dispute athwart Kashmir, the core issue dividing the sum of two units countries.

The sum of two units neighbors have been at loggerheads for athwart half a century since their independence from Britain in 1947 They have fought three wars, pair of them over Kashmir, since then and have reach [i]or[/i] attain any place [i]or[/i] point close to a conflict twice since the two crossing the nuclear threshold in May 1998

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