The Hindu : Front Page : "Bus service will lose credibility if Kashmir issue is not resolved"

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 24, 2005

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"Bus service will lose credibility if Kashmir issue is not resolved"

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, MARCH 23. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, has said that confidence building measures (CBMs) between India and Pakistan such as Muzaffarabad-Srinagar bus service would lose "credibility" if the Kashmir issue were not resolved.

India-Pakistan relations and the internal extremist menace faced by Pakistan dominated his address on the occasion of military parade held to celebrate Pakistan Day. The day marks the anniversary of 1940 Lahore Resolution of the Muslim League seeking establishment of Pakistan on the basis of two-nation theory.

The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, was the Guest of Honour at the parade, which showcased Pakistan military prowess, including its medium, short- and long-range missiles. It was the first parade after a gap of three years. It was cancelled in 2002 due to security concerns as well as Indo-Pak military tensions following the terrorist attack on Indian Parliament and the security environment within Pakistan in the aftermath of 9/11 and war against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan by the U.S.-led alliance.

In his brief address ahead of the parade, Gen. Musharraf said India and Pakistan should explore all options for the solution to the Kashmir problem in the light of the September 2004 statement issued after his meeting with the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, in New York, "which are acceptable to all parties — Pakistan, India and Kashmiri people."

A joint statement issued on September 25, 2004 after a meeting between Gen. Musharraf and Dr. Singh on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly had said both sides had agreed to consider all options for resolution of Kashmir issue. The leaders had further agreed to explore options keeping in mind the ground realities and understanding that there could be no redrawing of international boundaries.

On the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, scheduled to start on April 7, Gen. Musharraf said that at the parade "it is not a substitute for the resolution of Jammu and Kashmir issue but a confidence building measure."

Asking both India and Pakistan to move away from their "complicated past," Gen. Musharraf urged the two sides to show "flexibility, courage and honesty of intentions to resolve all outstanding issues, including Kashmir.

The two countries should display sincerity, flexibility and initiate bold measures to resolve Kashmir and other contentious issues."

"Pakistan wants friendship with all its neighbours on the principles of peace and sovereign equality but would not accept any pressure," he said.

`Address real problems'

He said the confidence building measures and dialogue between Pakistan and India should continue simultaneously. He said if the real problems were not resolved, CBMs would lose their credibility.

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