Annan to 'play his role' in Kashmir, says Musharraf

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, SEPT. 15. The Pakistan military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, maintained here today that he was not worried about the recent warming of relations between India and United States. Addressing a news conference on his return after attending the United Nations millennium summit Gen. Musharraf claimed that he had prevailed upon the U.N. Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, to visit Pakistan and play his role in resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

In response to a question, he said U.S.-India ties should not affect Pakistan since it viewed its relations with U.S. independently. ``My view is that our relations with U.S. should be seen independently and it should not be hooked on to U.S.- India relationship. We would maintain relations with the U.S. independent of Indian relationship with them.''

Gen. Musharraf was of the view that economic factors were behind the closer relationship between India and the U.S. He said Pakistan's survival depended on economic revival. The programme for documentation of the economy and broadening of the tax-net would go a long way in achieving this. He ruled out review of the programme and said there was no resentment among the people on the tax survey system. He had been receiving thousands of letters but none expressed any disappointment with the survey.

He was hopeful that Pakistan would be able to get assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the next two months. Currently, an IMF team is in Islamabad holding discussions with the authorities on the possibility of resumption of financial assistance suspended since the Kargil conflict last May.

The Chief Executive said he had successfully raised the Kashmir issue at the U.N. summit and was hopeful that Mr. Annan would be in the region soon. All the leaders he had met on the sidelines of the summit had expressed concern over the volatile situation in the region, he said.

``Certainly, they are aware why this security problem is there and that is Kashmir. The U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, is concerned about what is happening in Kashmir and is trying his best in the resolution of the issue,'' Gen. Musharraf said.

He conceded that the road to peace was not easy and there could be progress towards peace only if there was dialogue. He blamed India for wasting the `window of opportunity' provided by the Hizb-ul Mujahideen ceasefire declaration and hoped that India would demonstrate some `statesmanship' in resolution of the Kashmir conflict.

Gen. Musharraf did not hide his annoyance with the Bangladesh Prime Minister, Ms. Sheikh Hasina, and virtually accused her of interfering in the internal affairs of Pakistan. In an obvious reference to her presentation at the U.N. summit where she had castigated military Governments, Gen. Musharraf said he had refused to meet her because of her statements.

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