The Hindu : Chances of war minimal: Musharraf

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 10, 2002

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Chances of war minimal: Musharraf

Islamabad June 9. Pakistan's President, Pervez Musharraf, has said that the Kashmir "dispute" remained an obstacle to peace and India's tough stand was aimed at "creating the effects of war on us".

India wants "to prevent us from our stand on Kashmir and to suppress the Kashmiri people's struggle", he said here in an interview with Malaysia's New Sunday Times, published today. "The Kashmiri people don't want the election (in September) because Kashmir is not a part of India," Gen. Musharraf said.

However, toeing the line put forth before the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage, he said, "I think the chance of war is minimal. The threat (of war) in the last four or five days has diminished." The solution lay in "recognising Kashmir as the central core issue between India and Pakistan which has bedevilled relations between the two countries". "It is ridiculous that they say there are other issues. What other issues are they talking about? This is the dispute." Accusing India of "not having the will to initiate a dialogue and not de-escalating", he said, "I keep telling them don't go up to the Line of Control... Our Army, Air Force and Navy are around the border. "You don't do us a favour, we may be doing you a favour by de-escalating," claimed Gen. Musharraf, who is facing stiff opposition from the Army as well as political parties in Pakistan. "The response that I'm expecting is de-escalation followed by initiation of a dialogue on Kashmir."

Policy change on Kashmir?

Gen. Musharraf was planning to announce a "dramatic policy change" on Kashmir on behalf of the Army and the United Jihad Council in his address to the nation on May 27 but retracted from doing so at the last minute due to the apprehensions of the `jehadis', according to reports from Dubai.

Until hours before the speech, he was poised to announce a ceasefire in Kashmir and had met leaders of the Pakistan chapter of the All-Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) and militants to inform them about his intentions, Gulf News has reported. Syed Salahuddin of the Hizb-ul Mujahideen led the militants at the meeting, where representatives of the Badr-ul Mujahideen, the Hizb-ul Momineen and the Jamiat-ul Mujahideen were also present. Angry scenes took place during the meeting as the militant leaders accused Pakistan of "trying to dump us like the Taliban", the report said.

UNI

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