Pak. 'flexible' on proposals

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, DEC. 8. The Pakistan Foreign Minister, Mr. Abdul Sattar, has again indicated that Pakistan was `flexible' on details of the proposals it had made on December 2.

In an informal talk with journalists here, he said Pakistan welcomed the statement made by the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, that India was prepared to consider any request from leaders of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) to travel to Islamabad.

In the December 2 statement, the Pakistan Foreign Secretary, Mr. Inamul Haq, suggested that APHC leaders be allowed to hold separate discussions with the Indian and Pakistan Governments, paving the way for a ``tripartite'' dialogue.

Mr. Sattar said it would be unrealistic on the part of India to expect the militant organisations to return to the path of peace just on the basis of a month-long ceasefire. ``I think the Kashmiri freedom struggle is at this time expecting forward movement and if there is some visible movement from India, you can expect a response. Once confidence is established that India is prepared to enter into a purposeful process for the settlement of the Kashmir question, then I think it would be reasonable to expect a positive response from the Kashmiri freedom struggle.''

In a related development, senior APHC leader, Mr. Abdul Ghani Lone, accused vested interests in India and Pakistan of trying to create hurdles in the path of a settlement to the Kashmir issue.

In an interview to the Washington Post, Mr. Lone said there were important vested interests in both countries, who wanted the conflict to continue. ``I think the biggest danger now is from the extremists. They will make serious efforts to undermine the ceasefire,'' he told the paper.

Mr. Lone also expressed disappointment with the press both in India and Pakistan vis-a-vis the Kashmir conflict. ``The national press in India only gives the Government version on Kashmir and it is the same in Pakistan.''

PTI reports:

The situation along the LoC was reviewed here today at the highest level. The military ruler, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, presided over a meeting of Corps commanders at Rawalpindi, which also deliberated on the geo-strategic environment in the region, besides internal and external security, an official statement said.

The participants were given a comprehensive update on the army monitoring mechanism by the Director-General, Military Operations.

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