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No Progress Without Kashmir, Musharraf Tells India
MUZAFFARABAD,
Kashmir, Aug 27 (News Agencies) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf ruled out Monday any progress on disputes with archrival India until the bitter row over Muslim Kashmir is resolved.
In a speech to the legislative assembly of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, the general said he would meet Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in New York on September 19 and Kashmir would be the core issue.
"We are prepared to discuss everything with India but Kashmir is the top priority," Musharraf said.
"But I guarantee this house that whether we meet in New York, in Agra or in Islamabad, I make one thing clear, which is true, that without the settlement of the Kashmir issue Pakistan and India cannot make any progress in any area," he said.
In New Delhi Monday a government spokeswoman said Vajpayee had formally accepted Musharraf's offer for talks in New York although giving no date.
"We are asking our permanent mission in New York to tie up details of the time and venue with the Pakistan permanent mission," foreign ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said.
She said the meeting "will provide an opportunity to the two leaders to pick up the threads from the discussions at Agra and give guidelines for further interaction".
The proposed New York meeting on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly follows a landmark summit in the Taj Mahal town of Agra last month, which ended without agreement on a joint declaration.
Both sides have since traded blame for the Agra deadlock but the two leaders have agreed to continue the dialogue, with Vajpayee also accepting an invitation to visit Pakistan possibly later this year.
The Agra summit was the first between India and Pakistan since a bloody border conflict broke out in the Kargil sector of Kashmir in May 1999, which brought the South Asian rivals to the brink of their fourth war.
The sticking point at Agra was Pakistan's insistence that the normalization of ties be linked to progress on Kashmir, as well as India's accusations Islamabad sponsors "cross-border terrorism" in the Muslim-majority state.
India wants other issues to be discussed ahead of Kashmir, but Pakistan insists it is the core problem, which must be tackled in tandem with others, such as nuclear safeguards and trade.
Musharraf, who seized power in a bloodless coup in October 1999, told the
parliament in the semi-autonomous Pakistani part of Kashmir that the dispute should be resolved in line with the wishes of the Kashmiri people.
"You cannot reach any solution on Kashmir without the involvement of the Kashmiris," he said amid desk thumping applause in the 48-member legislative assembly.
He said he hoped "good sense would prevail across the border".
Pakistan controls the northern third of Kashmir. Inida's military crackdown on a 12-year Muslim resistance movement of Indian occupation has claimed more than 35,000 lives in the Indian side but Pakistan denies New Delhi's allegations that it is fuelling the violence.
Musharraf reiterated that Pakistan would continue to extend diplomatic, moral and political support to the Islamic combatants.
He also rejected Indian criticism that he was "rigid and uni-focal" during his talks with Vajpayee in Agra and said a joint declaration drafted by both teams could not be signed due to internal differences on the Indian side.
Musharraf also condemned special powers given recently to the Indian army in Kashmir and the reported withdrawal of cases against Indian soldiers for alleged human rights violations.
"This is against all international norms and I condemn it strongly," he said.
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