Washington, Nov 26: US and France today welcomed the ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan and expressed the hope that the two countries would move forward on the peace process. As US Secretary of State Colin Powell talked over telephone to External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, a State Department official remarked that Washington lauded the efforts of both the countries to seek peace.
Powell greeted the two on the latest peace initiative under which guns fell silent across the LoC, International Border and the Siachen glacier midnight last night.
State Department officials said the ceasefire and other peace measures were a result of moves by the Prime Ministers of the two countries towards de-escalating tension and removing impediments in normal relations.
They said greater engagement between them could lead to removal of differences and progressing towards a permanent solution.
The French government hailed the announcement of ceasefire by the two sides saying "stopping artillery fire along the LoC is a positive step that will make it possible to continue towards normalising relations between India and Pakistan”.
"We hope that the current process can be developed," said the French foreign ministry spokesman in Paris.
Bureau Report