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India rejects Pak. offer of talks

NEW DELHI MARCH 2 . Reacting sharply to the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, describing militant violence in Jammu and Kashmir as a "freedom struggle", India today rejected Islamabad's fresh offer of dialogue.

Commenting on Gen. Musharraf's remarks in an interview to a television channel, an External Affairs Ministry spokesman said, "there is nothing new in the Pakistan President's statement.

Gen. Musharraf has repeated his tried and hackneyed position which tries to mask his country's real intention and designs".

Pakistan has to be judged not through facile statements in the media but actions on the ground regarding the dialogue offer.

"Our leadership has time and again stated that Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism has to stop as a prerequisite to talks between the two countries," he added.In the interview, the military ruler had said a ``freedom struggle'' is going on in Kashmir for the resolution of the ``dispute.''

``It is not possible to suppress them. Finding a political solution is the responsibility of both sides,'' he said. — UNI

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