NEW DELHI, India— The leaders of India and Pakistan agreed Tuesday not to attack each other’s nuclear plants, a major step toward normalizing relations between the rival nations, which have fought three wars in 40 years.
They also pledged to expand trade and economic ties, resume talks on peace treaty, reduce border tensions and investigate each other’s allegations of cross border subversion.
Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul Haq and Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi announced the agreements at a joint news conference following their first official summit meeting.
Gandhi accepted Zia’s invitation to visit Pakistan by mid-1986. He would be the first Indian Prime Minister to go to Pakistan since his grandfather, Jawaharial Nehru, visited in 1954.
“We both feel it is in the interest of both countries to live a cordial life as neighbors,” Zia said at the airport news conference before he returned to Islamabad.
Gandhi said, “We hope we will start normalizing relations very, very fast.”
Article extracted from this publication >> December 27, 1985
