Indian offer holds no hope: Pak.

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, APRIL 5. Pakistan today called the latest policy statement made by New Delhi on Kashmir as an effort to separate the All- Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) from Pakistan and said it did not hold out a promise.

The chief spokesman of the military Government, Maj. Gen. Rashid Quereshi, told The Hindu that ``the very fact that the Indian Government is going ahead with its effort even after the Hurriyat made it clear that it could respond to any invitation for talks only after it is allowed to travel to Pakistan shows that the Indian Government is not sincere''.

Maj. Gen. Quereshi said there could be no resolution of the Kashmir dispute as long there was no dialogue between India, Pakistan and the APHC.

The Director-General of Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) regretted that instead of responding to the December 2 Pakistan formulation, the Indian Government had chosen to continue with its divide and rule policy.

``Unfortunately there have been glaring contradictions in the stance of the Indian Government in the last few months. The latest stance is a clear attempt to separate the Hurriyat from Pakistan and this is not acceptable to us.''

Maj. Gen. Quereshi said the Pakistan formulation had underlined three points - observance of maximum restraint on the Line of Control, partial withdrawal of its troops from the international border, invitation to the Hurriyat Executive to Islamabad for discussions to pave way for a tripartite dialogue and cessation of `hostilities' in Kashmir by the Indian troops.

He said Pakistan was very encouraged by the new-year musings of the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, wherein he had recommended the need for dialogue with Pakistan and indicated that India would like to move forward towards resumption of the stalled dialogue process.

``However what we saw in the weeks that followed were contradictory statements from senior leaders of the Indian Government. First they said they would like to talk only to Hizb- ul Mujahideen and not to Pakistan. When the APHC wanted to travel to Islamabad, they were denied travel documents.'' Maj. Gen. Quereshi said Pakistan had been consistent in its stand that all differences could be resolved only through the process of dialogue. ``In all honesty and earnestness we believe that the differences could be resolved only by involvement by all the three parties''.

The Indian statement had ``no meaning' as the Hurriyat had already denounced the offer of talks unless they were first permitted to travel to Pakistan for discussions. ``The new effort does not seem to offer any hope and future for resolution of the Kashmir dispute''.

`It is up to Delhi'

In a related development, the military ruler and Chief Executive of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, said that it was entirely for New Delhi to revive the peace process. ``We have shown a lot of flexibility. We are showing maximum sincerity. The ball is entirely in their court and we don't have any more to do,'' he told the Pakistani monthly magazine, Herald, in an interview.

The Chief Executive urged India to clear the travel documents to the Hurriyat team to enable them to visit Pakistan. He said both sides had to be flexible and that any solution had to be based on the desire of the Kashmiri people.

No meaning: Hizb

The Hizb said it did not view the latest Indian statement on Kashmir `seriously', as it does not seek to engage Pakistan. Its spokesman, Mr. Salim Hashmi, said there was `no meaning' in India's offer for talks with all the concerned groups as long as it did not include Pakistan.

``The Indian Government continues to parrot the line of bilateral talks when all the relevant players have rejected it umpteen times in the past. We called off our unilateral cease- fire in August last year on this very question. So where is the question of our accepting the invitation for talks,'' he asked.

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Section  : International
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