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Musharraf Says Ice Broken With Indian Prime Minister
MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, Feb 5 (News Agencies) - Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf said Monday the ice had been broken between himself and India's prime minister, but urged New Delhi to take the next step for peace in Kashmir.
He said the nuclear rivals risked returning to "a policy of confrontation" unless New Delhi took advantage of the momentum for dialogue over the divided Himalayan territory.
"The ice has been broken," Musharraf said of his telephone conversation with Atal Behari Vajpayee on Friday.
"We did not talk about Kashmir. We discussed the earthquake disaster in India and I sympathized and he thanked me."
Speaking after a Kashmir Day speech here, Musharraf refused to disclose who made the telephone call.
"We decided to speak and we spoke. So it does not matter who made the call," he said.
"There is a momentum towards peace. The more delays there are that momentum will end and we will go back to the situation of a year ago.
"We will go back to the policy of confrontation."
India and Pakistan have fought three wars and a bloody border conflict since independence in 1947.
In his main speech marking a day of solidarity with Kashmiri people, Musharraf called on India to allow leaders of the Kashmiri alliance to visit Pakistan.
"India should take a decision on All Party Hurriyat [Freedom] Conference delegation's visit" for consultations leading to tri-lateral talks involving Pakistan, India and the Kashmiri representatives.
"The delay in this regard will weaken the dialogue process," he said in an address at a camp housing refugees from Indian Kashmir.
He said there were some "signs and movement forward" from India but "Kashmiris have to continue their struggle for the realization of their freedom".
India says Pakistan should rein in activists before talks can start. Pakistan insists it exercises no control over them.
The day to express solidarity for the Muslim campaign in Indian Kashmir was observed in Pakistan and the Islamabad controlled northern third of Kashmir.
Processions and demonstrations were organized by political parties and Pakistan-based Kashmiri groups to mark the day, an annual event since 1990.
A major rally in Islamabad was led by Culture and Sports Minister S.K. Tressler, with marchers carrying banners and chanting: "Victory is imminent", "Kashmiri martyrs' blood will not go in vain" and "Kashmir will join Pakistan," witnesses said.
Participants, including supporters of Kashmiri parties, and women and children, paraded up the main road opposite the parliament building.
Around 1,000 people, including women and children in school uniforms, gathered at Islamabad's main entry point under the banner of the main Islamist Jamaat-i-Islami party and formed a human chain.
"The aim is to convey to the Kashmiris that they are not alone in their struggle," Jamaat leaders said.
Thousands of people formed human chains at key roads linking Kashmir with Pakistan to symbolize "eternal bonds" between peoples of Pakistan and Kashmir.
Scores of Shiite party activities marched to the Indian mission in Islamabad where they handed a statement demanding stationing of U.N. forces in Kashmir and holding of a plebiscite.
Hundreds from Lashkar-i-Taiba, mostly in guerrilla attire, held a separate rally in Islamabad. "Jihad is the only way for the liberation of Kashmir," Lashkar leaders told the rally.
A much bigger rally, attended by some 5,000, was organized by Lashkar in the eastern provincial capital of Lahore. Srinagar-based APHC leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani addressed the meeting by satellite phone.
The "APHC supports talks between India and Pakistan but we demand Indian troops stop brutalities in Kashmir," Geelani said.
Commanders of leading the Kashmiri outfit Hizbul Mujahideen attended a rally in northwestern Peshawar city. Tribesmen at a separate gathering offered to join activists in Kashmir.
Protesters torched Prime Minister Vajpayee's effigy and an Indian flag in southern Karachi, where Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed also led a solidarity march attended by several thousand.
The day, already declared a holiday, began with prayers in mosques for the success of the liberation struggle. Later, traffic in key cities came to a standstill for a minute of silence and prayers were offered for Kashmiri martyrs, officials said.
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