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We have `left aside' U.N. resolutions on Kashmir: Musharraf

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Dec. 18. In yet another significant conciliatory move, the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, has said that his country has "left aside" the United Nations Security Council resolutions on Kashmir and is prepared to meet India "halfway" in a bid to resolve the 56-year-old issue. This comes ahead of the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Islamabad next month.

In an interview to Reuters, Gen. Musharraf, however, hastened to add that India would have to accept Kashmir as a disputed territory and agree on that basis to sit with Pakistan to solve the problem. "I will be bold in moving it forward, but if somebody thinks I will be bold to give up Kashmir — no sir, I am not giving up at all. I am a proud Pakistani," he said.

It is for the first time that any Pakistani leader has said that Islamabad has "left aside" the U.N. resolutions though Gen. Musharraf had said implied this in the course of his breakfast meeting with senior Indian editors at the time of the Agra Summit in July 2001.

The Pakistan Foreign Office appeared to be clearly caught unawares by Gen. Musharraf's remarks. Its spokesman, Masood Khan, was not available for comment.

Elaborating on his "vision" for the resolution of the Kashmir issue, Gen. Musharraf explained the four-step approach he had unveiled before Indian editors. It involves recognition of the "centrality" of Kashmir for the settlement of all differences between India and Pakistan, commencement of a dialogue on that basis, elimination of solutions not acceptable to India, Pakistan and Kashmiris, and initiating the process for finding a solution acceptable to all parties.

Gen. Musharraf left no one in doubt on the basic purpose of his peace gestures. He said it would be a pity if Mr. Vajpayee did not use his coming visit to Pakistan for a dialogue with the Pakistani leaders and warned that a rigid position on the part of New Delhi could only strengthen the hands of extremists in India and Pakistan.

"If we want to resolve this issue, both sides need to talk to each other with flexibility coming beyond stated positions, meeting halfway somewhere. We are prepared to rise to the occasion, India has to be flexible also. We are for United Nations Security Council Resolutions. However, now we have left that aside," Gen. Musharraf said while refusing to be drawn on possible solutions to the Kashmir problem.

He maintained that the coming SAARC summit represented a real opportunity to make peace and warned India not to throw away the chance. "The basis of everything, the basis of a reduction in militancy... is moving forward on a process of dialogue. If that political dialogue does not come about, who wins and who loses? It is the moderates who lose and the extremists who win, and that is exactly what has been happening."

Gen. Musharraf said:

"I will not submit to extremist views in Pakistan so I will be bold to that extent, but nobody in India should ever think that I am a person who is going to give up. Unfortunately, magnanimity has to come from the bigger and the stronger side. But they do not show any magnanimity. They lack magnanimity.

"We have come to a stage where there is a thaw in relations, where there is expectation on both sides in the people. If the leadership does not rise to the occasion, it is a pity and I think we will disappoint our public again."

He was replying to a question on the possibility of contacts between India and Pakistan on the sidelines of the SAARC summit.

On the possibility of his meeting with Mr. Vajpayee, Gen. Musharraf said that while he would be glad to meet him, he would not be pleading for an audience with the Prime Minister. He also criticised India for taking advantage of the ceasefire to accelerate the construction of a fence along the Line of Control, a move he said showed "insincerity" about seeking a peaceful solution.

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