The Hindu : International / India & World : Lukewarm response to joint statement

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 20, 2005

International

International - India & World

Lukewarm response to joint statement

B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf's visit to New Delhi has evoked a lukewarm response in his country. While no party leader has wholeheartedly endorsed the joint statement, critical voices are vocal and loud.

Welcoming the progress in dialogue with India, the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and senior leader of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, Fazlur Rehman, however, said that "Kashmir would not be allowed to be brushed under the carpet."

Another MMA leader and member of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Munnawar Hasan, said that Gen. Musharraf's "cricket diplomacy" had failed. He accused the President of furthering the Indian agenda in New Delhi. The former Prime Minister and chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party, Benazir Bhutto, expressed cautious optimism over the joint statement. She said that her party had spearheaded the movement to bring "enhanced economic and commercial cooperation" between India and Pakistan. "However, we still have to see whether the noble sentiments are implemented. We will watch carefully that there is no disconnect between what is said and what is actually being done on the ground." The former ISI chief, Hameed Gul, said that Pakistan was being forced to follow a "certain agenda" on the Kashmir issue. He characterised Gen. Musharaf's visit to India as complete endorsement of the Indian agenda on Kashmir and India-Pakistan relations.

The English daily, The Nation, which belongs to the traditionally anti-India Nawai-Waqt group, said: "The Pakistani leadership has succumbed to the pressure to proceed with the normalisation of relations with India and put the core dispute of Kashmir on the backburner. Another contradiction in our policy that emerges from New Delhi is they (two leaders) determined that the peace process was now irreversible, while we have repeatedly maintained that unless Kashmir, which is the real bone of contention, is resolved, the peace process cannot be sustained."

The paper added: "It is clear that the pressure to normalise has come not so much from India as from our Western friends, led by the United States, who want an end to differences in this important region, irrespective of whether justice and fair play suffer in the process.

"There is still time for our leaders to probe their hearts and consider the torture and agony the Kashmiris have gone through. Their cause cannot be abandoned with impunity; for it constitutes equally our own cause."

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