Pak. raising pitch on Kashmir

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, SEPT. 4. With the meeting between the Pakistan President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, in New York just over three weeks away, Islamabad is beginning to give a distinct impression of raising the pitch on the Kashmir issue.

A brief but terse statement by the Pakistan Foreign Office tonight contested India's claim that at the Agra summit, Pakistan had agreed not to raise the Kashmir issue at multilateral forums even as the Pakistan Foreign Minister, Mr. Abdul Sattar, reiterated that Kashmir was the only stumbling block in normalisation of ties between India and Pakistan.

The provocation for the statement is presumably the remarks made by the Indian Foreign Office spokesperson questioning the manner in which Mr. Sattar raised the Kashmir issue at the World Racism Conference in Durban in violation of the understanding arrived at Agra.

Describing the Indian claim on the understanding as ``pure fabrication and figment of some one's imagination,'' the Pakistan Foreign Office said, ``at no stage was such an assurance given to any body. Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally-recognised disputed territory and Pakistan would continue to raise this issue at international forums till the resolution of the dispute in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmir people''.

At Durban, Mr. Sattar took observers by surprise when he accused India of denigrating the ``struggle'' in Kashmir as terrorism and associating it with Islam. Taking exception to what he termed as ``vilification of Islam,'' he said New Delhi was resorting to such methods to justify the ongoing ``brutal repression'' of Kashmiris.

On his return, Mr. Sattar told presspersons at Karachi that Pakistan had never been averse to a dialogue with India on issues other than Kashmir. Both sides understood that after the conclusion of the Agra Declaration there would be a structured dialogue process. The priority issues were identified as Jammu and Kashmir, peace and security, nuclear and conventional arms, confidence-building measures, drug trafficking and terrorism.

Mr. Sattar said Gen. Musharraf and Mr. Vajpayee would meet in New York on September 25 for talks on Kashmir. ``We do not expect finalisation of any draft at the meeting, but both leaders may decide how to proceed further.''

On developments in the valley, he said, ``the Kashmiri struggle is indigenous and the Indian response was not political and peaceful as they let lose a reign of terror''. He accused India of ``cynically trying to portray'' the Kashmiris' legitimate struggle for self-rule as terrorism and extremism.

In a separate statement, the Pakistan Foreign Office condemned the arrest of Shaikh Abdul Aziz, member, executive council of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC), and the detention of Mr. Ashraf Sehrai, another APHC leader.

``The Government of Pakistan calls upon the Indian Government to release all Kashmiri leaders and political activists under detention and abandon all Kashmiri leaders and political activists under detention and abandon the policy of repression in occupied-Kashmir'', it said.

`No joint statement'

PTI reports:

Pakistan today ruled out the possibility of a joint statement or declaration after the New York summit between Mr. Vajpayee and Gen. Musharraf.

The two leaders were expected to pick up the threads from the Agra summit but not scheduled to sign any joint statement or declaration. ``It would be reasonable to say that we do not expect the finalisation of the draft in New York,'' Mr. Sattar said.

He, however, hoped that the declaration would be ``consummated'' when Mr. Vajpayee visited Islamabad later in response to Gen. Musharraf's invitation.

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Section  : International
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