By
Asif Farooqi, IOL South Asia Correspondent
ISLAMABAD,
June 5 (IslamOnline) - Hopes of reconciliation between Pakistan and
India dashed Wednesday, June 5, when Pakistan outrightly rejected an
Indian proposal which could have engaged the two countries, locked in
border tensions for over six months, in a dialogue.
The
Pakistani foreign ministry late Wednesday evening, June 5, rejected an
Indian
proposal
for joint patrols along the disputed Kashmir border to stem what it
described as the infiltration of militants. The proposal had come from
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who said in Almaty Wednesday
morning that his country could consider joint patrols along the tense
Kashmir borders if Pakistan stopped cross-border infiltrations by
Pakistani-based militants.
"If
Pakistan decides it will not support infiltration, then both countries
can
back
from the brink of war.”
“We
want to move away from a path of confrontation to a path of
cooperation,” he said before leaving Kazakhstan, where he attended an
Asian security conference along with Pakistani President General Pervez
Musharraf. Vajepayee told the news conference in Almaty that India and
Pakistan have amassed more than a million troops along their borders
amid fears that tension could trigger a fourth war between the
nuclear-armed foes.
Pakistan
downplayed the joint patrols offer, saying it was not new and unlikely
to
Boundary
by India," the statement said.
It
was the first indication in the six-month standoff that India might
cooperate with Pakistan to end the Kashmir insurgency and solve the
dispute that dates to independence from Britain in 1947. Kashmir has
been the flash point in two of the three wars between the South Asian
rivals.
The
Pakistani foreign ministry statement said that the Indian and Pakistani
forces are monitoring and patrolling their respective sides of the Line
of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
"UNMOGIP
already has a mandate to monitor the Line of Control. It may be
