The Hindu : No unilateral shift in Kashmir policy: Musharraf

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 23, 2004

International

International

No unilateral shift in Kashmir policy: Musharraf

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, JAN. 22. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, has ruled out any "unilateral shift" in his country's Kashmir policy. He said both New Delhi and Islamabad would have to be flexible to resolve the dispute for peace in South Asia.

He was talking on Wednesday to editors of leading Turkish newspapers in Istanbul, where he is on a two-day official visit en-route to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum conference.

While Gen. Musharraf's comments on Kashmir are consistent with his earlier statements on the need for flexibility from India and Pakistan, they lessen the impact of his earlier "history has been made" remark after his meeting with Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, here on January 5.

Gen. Musharraf said the remark had been quoted out of context. He had called the meeting "historic" as it was for the first time that Kashmir had been accepted as an issue that needed to be resolved. "We have a stand [on Kashmir]. I have always been saying that if we want to go for a solution, we will ultimately have to show flexibility." Both Pakistan and India would have to go beyond their stated positions. "Both of us have to do that."

He, however, made it clear that any expectations from Pakistan to back down from its old position while expecting India not to do so were unreal. Both countries ought to be bold enough to move beyond their stated positions and show flexibility if any conclusion was to be reached.

He said talks with India on Kashmir would start in February. "We are in contact with each other to work on the level of the first dialogue that we ought to have, which will be in February."

On Afghanistan, Gen. Musharraf said that sovereignty and territorial integrity remained paramount in Pakistan's foreign policy. The fight to root out Islamic militancy in Pakistan would be long and hard, but there was no danger of his country's nuclear weapons falling into extremist hands, he said adding that extremism had led to militancy in Pakistani society. "It will certainly take time to curb. There is no short-cut solution to it."

Separately, the Pakistan Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, has said the peace process would not be affected with any change of government after elections in India.

Speaking to presspersons at Kalat in Baluchistan, Mr. Jamali said the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, had assured that a change of government would not affect the negotiations process between the two countries. "I think initially the dialogue would be held on secretaries' level," he said to a question. Asked about the fencing work undertaken at the Line of Control by the Indian Army, he said Islamabad had formally informed the United Nations about its concerns on the issue.

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