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PM, colleagues to discuss speech
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, JAN. 12. The Government tonight declined to react to the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf's televised address, but the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, has called a meeting of his key Cabinet colleagues and senior advisers on Sunday to analyse the Pakistani leader's observations in depth.
The mood in government circles after Gen. Musharraf's much publicised speech is that of circumspection. Three points appear to be under careful analysis: His assertion on unhinging the Jammu and Kashmir issue from terrorism, his observation that Pakistani nationals in the list of 20 terrorists will not be handed over to India, and the implications of the view that Pakistanis should look at internal consolidation rather than external sanctuaries for intervention.
It remains to be seen whether this formulation will have an impact on reining in extremist activities in PoK and Northern Areas as they have a distinct legal status. Sources here assert that the Government's focus will now be on the implementation of Gen. Musharraf's directives, especially those related to terrorism and J&K.
BJP sceptical
The Pakistan leader's speech was received with cautious optimism by most political parties. While the BJP was sceptical in its initial response _ stating that the speech fell far short of the minimum demands of India _ the Left parties found hope in his offer to resolve the Kashmir dispute through dialogue. The Congress, for its part, preferred to await the Government reaction before formulating its response.
The BJP spokesman, Sunil Shastri, reacted primarily to Gen. Musharraf's refusal to hand over Pakistani citizens in the list of 20 terrorists wanted by India, saying ``Terrorists are terrorists; they do not have any citizenship or nationality.'' The BJP Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha, V. K. Malhotra, welcomed the reference to a ``peaceful solution'' to the Kashmir issue.
Finding the entire speech to be along expected lines, the senior BJP leader, J. P. Mathur, said it did not indicate any change in attitude to either India or Kashmir. ``In fact, he openly declared support for the so-called Kashmir cause.''
Welcoming the Pakistan leader's view that the Kashmir issue ought to be resolved through bilateral dialogue, a senior member of the Congress Working Committee rejected his call for third party intervention.
`Positive step'
Similarly, the CPI and CPI(M) have rejected third party intervention. Conceding that Gen. Musharraf had maintained his stance on Kashmir, the CPI leader, D. Raja, said his offer for dialogue should be accepted. According to Nilotpal Basu of the CPI(M) his delinking of Kashmir from terrorism was a positive step and ``may reflect the renunciation of terrorism as a state policy''.
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