India Re-claims Kashmir Ahead of Talks with Pakistan
NEW DELHI, June 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - India reiterated Saturday its position that the Indian-held state of Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of its territory, ahead of peace talks with arch rival Pakistan on the sensitive subject.
An Indian foreign ministry spokeswoman was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying the official stance on the divided Kashmir state was well-established and spelled out in the constitution.
Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh last month said the whole of Jammu and Kashmir was an integral part of India, and ruled out a referendum on the future of the Muslim-majority state.
Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf on Friday called Kashmir an "unfinished agenda" of the 1947 partition of the subcontinent, and said "we need to resolve it amicably for the economic betterment of this region."
"I am going with this agenda and I hope the other side recognizes this," he said.
Musharraf said he would visit India with an open mind to "change history" and hoped for a similar response from New Delhi.
On Musharraf's statement that he would go to India with an "open mind" to meet Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Indian foreign ministry spokeswoman said "how can we gauge how open a mind is until it is opened".
Muslim-dominated Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan in 1947 but is still claimed by both. Many Kashmiris favor total independence.
Some 35,000 people have died since India started a violent crackdown against a 12-year old Muslim separatist movement in the Indian-held zone.
Human rights and separatist groups put the number at double this figure and blame it on Indian excessive use of force.
Hindu-dominated India accuses Pakistan of arming and training Islamic activists and helping them cross over into India. Pakistan denies the charge.
Pakistan, which controls the northern third of the Himalayan state, calls for a referendum so that Kashmiris can choose between India and Pakistan.
Vajpayee last month made a surprise invitation to Musharraf to hold peace talks on Kashmir, which has caused two of the three wars between the rival neighbors. No official dates for the talks have been set.
Official contacts between the nuclear rivals have been suspended since mid-1999 when a deadly border conflict erupted in the Himalayan state.
