The Hindu : Flexibility needed, says Musharraf

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 26, 2004

International

International - India & World

Flexibility needed, says Musharraf

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, JAN. 25. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, has said that on the subject of Kashmir there can be no unilateral action and that both India and Pakistan will have to go beyond their stated positions and show flexibility.

In a recent interview to Newsweek-Washington Post, Gen. Musharraf was asked if he would clarify on whether a plebiscite was required in Kashmir as this had been the traditional Pakistani position. "No unilateral action can be taken. I have been saying that we must go beyond stated positions and show flexibility. But it can't be done unilaterally by Pakistan. So, there is reciprocity involved," he said.

On whether there had been a change in the Pakistani position that the Kashmir issue had to be settled first, Gen. Musharraf said he had "never" said anywhere that an agreement on Kashmir must come before anything else. "I have never said anywhere that we need to have a Kashmir agreement before anything else. I have always maintained that we should move simultaneously on all issues. The problem before was that Kashmir was never included. Now there is a change," he said.

"For the first time, the joint statement [issued by India and Pakistan recently] recognises Kashmir as a dispute to be resolved. It recognises that Pakistan is a party to the dispute. So, this is the source of my optimism," Gen. Musharraf said.

On the issue of non-proliferation and the current attention worldwide on the subject, Gen. Musharraf denied that Pakistan was one of the biggest proliferators in the world and insisted that Official Pakistan did not sanction or authorise anyone to proliferate. "It is not Pakistan. These are individuals and our investigation has concluded that no government of Pakistan — and I don't have a soft spot for the governments of Benazir (Bhutto) and Nawaz (Sharif) — sanctioned or authorised anyone to proliferate. There are individuals whose names have come up," Gen. Musharraf said.

"We are investigating whatever our scientists are involved in. When it's a question of knowledge or the knowhow to build a centrifuge, it's in the mind of a person or in diagrams that can be carried in a briefcase or in a pocket. If it's in the mind of a person, you can't intercept it," he said.

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Flexibility needed, says Musharraf