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Pakistan Urges India To Open 'Political Route' To Solve Kashmir Issue
ISLAMABAD, Feb 4 (News Agencies) - Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar urged India Sunday to open a "political route" to solve the Kashmir problem and warned New Delhi's insistence on pre-conditions would lead to a stalemate.
"A political route has to be opened," he said, adding that India's insistence that "some condition has to be fulfilled in advance will lead to stalemate," he said.
India has refused to resume dialogue with Pakistan until "cross-border terrorism" in the divided state of Kashmir is stopped.
Pakistan and India have fought two wars over the troubled Himalayan state since their independence in 1947 and dialogue between them remains suspended following a bloody border conflict in the Kargil region of Kashmir in 1999.
"In order to prepare the atmosphere for the resumption of dialogue it is desirable to avoid mutual accusations," Sattar said.
"As a result of the recent decisions and initiatives, the atmosphere today is less tense," he said referring to Friday's first telephone contact between Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
"We hope this atmosphere will make it possible to take further steps" towards resolving the Kashmir dispute, he said.
India in November declared a unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir and Pakistan responded by pulling out some of its troops from the disputed border.
But some Muslim groups have rejected the ceasefire and vowed to carry on their armed struggle for Kashmir's liberation from Indian rule.
Sattar opposed the month-by-month extension of the Kashmir ceasefire by India, saying it "seems to be a method to seek concessions."
Earlier at a seminar he said the newly initiated peace process would not move forward if India delayed issuing travel documents for leaders of Kashmir's main alliance to visit Islamabad.
"Inordinate delay will not be conducive to the maintenance of the momentum in favor of peace," he said.
"We urge the government of India not to postpone or delay the grant of travel documents" to the All Parties Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference (APHC) delegation from Indian-administered Kashmir, he added.
A five-member Hurriyat delegation was due to arrive last month for consultations for a trilateral dialogue involving Pakistan, India and Kashmiri leaders to resolve the Kashmir dispute.
He said Islamabad had proposed that Pakistan and India should hold talks with the Hurriyat leaders.
"Pursuant to these consultations, Pakistan and India should resume the dialogue in order to find a mutually acceptable formula for settlement of Kashmir question in accordance with the aspiration of Kashmiri people," Sattar said.
He also reiterated Pakistan's "unflinching support" for Kashmiris' right to self-determination.
Sattar said Pakistan, taking advantage of New Delhi's suspension of military operations against Kashmiri groups, had offered to cooperate in stabilizing the ceasefire along the Line of Control in Kashmir.
Pakistan will observe Monday a day of solidarity with a 12-year-old Muslim campaign in Indian Kashmir in a conflict that has claimed the lives of around 35,000 people.
Rallies, processions and demonstrations have been organized by political parties and groups in major Pakistani cities and in the northern third of Kashmir controlled by Islamabad.
The Solidarity Day, an annual event since 1990, will start with special prayers in mosques for the success of the Kashmiris' liberation struggle.
Pakistan wants India to honor U.N. resolutions passed in 1948-49 calling for a plebiscite in the disputed territory, and warns peace in South Asia will remain a pipe dream unless the dispute is resolved.
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