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| Saturday, 24 January 2004 |
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Pakistan rules out unilateral shift on Kashmir row with India ISLAMABAD, Friday (AFP) President Pervez Musharraf has firmly rejected any unilateral shift by Pakistan in its efforts to resolve the half-century dispute with India over Kashmir, an official report said. New Delhi must also show flexibility to resolve the issue, Musharraf told an audience in Turkey during a three-day official visit. "There is no question of a unilateral shift in Pakistan's position on the Kashmir issue... it has to be mutual," the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Musharraf as telling Turkish newspapers Wednesday. "If anyone is expecting that Pakistan is going to leave its old position and India does not leave its stance, I am afraid that is not reality." Last month Musharraf offered to drop Pakistan's long-standing demand for a referendum in Kashmir on rule by India or Pakistan. The Himalayan region is claimed by both but has been divided between them since 1948. His concession on the referendum demand preceded a breakthrough agreement he struck with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee earlier January to restart talks on Kashmir and other issues after a two-and-a-half-year hiatus. He defended his stance by saying Pakistan also had to be flexible to find a way out of the crippling dispute, which has triggered two wars between the nuclear armed neighbours and brought them to the brink of a fourth conflict in 2002. "We have a stance (on Kashmir). I have always been saying that if we want to go for a solution, ultimately we have to show flexibility. "Both Pakistan and India ought to be bold enough to move beyond their stated positions and show flexibility if we want to reach any conclusion. "There has to be mutual flexibility otherwise we are not going to reach any conclusion." Musharraf said the joint statement on restarting talks, issued in Islamabad on January 6, was "historic"because the two countries for the first time accepted Kashmir as an issue which needs to be resolved. |
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