Pakistan moves to restore peace talks
Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf called India’s prime minister today to ask him to resume the stalled peace talks over the disputed Kashmir region.
Musharraf asked Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to carry forward the peace process started with their meeting in the Indian city of Agra in July, the Associated Press of Pakistan said.
The Agra talks broke down over Kashmir - a former princely state divided between the two nations.
Both Pakistan and India claim Kashmir and have fought two wars over it since the British rule ended on the subcontinent in 1947.
Musharraf and Vajpayee had planned to meet on September 25 in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations’ General Assembly meeting. But the September 11 terrorist strikes in the United States prevented the meeting.
Since then, there has been a barrage of allegations from India, accusing Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism - a charge Pakistan strongly denies.
Pakistan, which has won praise from the international community for its support to the United States in its war on terrorism, says that Indian allegations were damaging the peace efforts.
India accuses Muslim guerrillas of waging a secessionist war in its part of Kashmir operate base in Pakistan and have links with Islamic militants who operate in Afghanistan.
But Musharraf said that Kashmir has no link with Afghanistan.
‘‘I have told the world leader that whatever is going on in Afghanistan cannot be identified with Kashmir freedom struggle,’’ he told a press conference earlier today. Struggle in Kashmir is a ‘‘noble cause,’’ he said.
India wants the US and its allies to declare guerrilla organisations fighting in Kashmir terrorist. That demand is unacceptable to Pakistan - which has emerged as a front-line state in the US war on terrorism.
During his telephone conversation with Vajpayee, Musharraf stressed the need to resolve the Kashmir dispute, the cause of tension in the region, the APP said.
No immediate comment was available from India.
Musharraf asked Vajpayee to reduce rhetoric to create a conducive atmosphere for the resumption of talks and expressed hope that he and Indian foreign minister would visit Pakistan ‘‘sooner than later.’’
Also, Musharraf gave Vajpayee his condolences over the loss of civilian lives in the recent bomb explosion in Indian Kashmir and said that Pakistan could not condone such acts.
India accused a Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed for the blast that killed at least 38 people in Srinagar - the capital of Indian Kashmir.
Kashmir is the only Muslim-majority state in Hindu-dominated India, where more than a dozen guerrilla groups are fighting Indian forces since 1989 for its merger with Islamic Pakistan or independence.
Pakistan wants a vote in Kashmir in line with UN resolutions to determine whether Kashmiris want to join Pakistan or remain with India.
New Delhi rejects the proposal and calls Kashmir its integral part.
