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India spurned peace overtures: Musharraf

Pakistan's new military ruler said today that India had spurned his peace overtures and was adopting a position for domestic political reasons from which it would be difficult to exit.

General Pervez Musharraf told Reuters Television in an interview that there would be no peace in South Asia until the two countries solved the Kashmir issue.

Gen Musharraf, who was army chief of staff when Pakistani-backed infiltrators invaded the Kargil sector of Kashmir earlier this year, said he was being portrayed by the Indian government as untrustworthy because of the Kargil conflict.

''I know that they (India) keep drumming this issue of Kargil and my being unreliable and a warmonger, etc,'' said Gen Musharraf, who pulled back troops from the border in a goodwill gesture soon after he deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif on October 12. ''But I have been telling them (India) that I am for peace. I am for peace in its totality and when we talk about peace in totality, we talk about Kashmir,'' he said.

''If anyone thinks peace can come about in this region without sorting out Kashmir, they are dreaming. The problem arises when you try to create such hype or tension in the public with an issue that you make your own position untenable, you can't recover,'' said Gen Musharraf.

''That is exactly what the Indian leaders are doing on Kargil even now, with the change of October 12. They have trapped themselves, they have put themselves in trouble,'' he said.

He repeated Pakistan's long-time stance: the Mujahideen (holy warrior) intruders were from an indigenous movement and were not sent by Pakistan to wage a guerrilla war inside Indian kashmir.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar has said Islamabad was ready to hold talks with New Delhi on the basis of agreements already reached between the two sides.

Sattar was talking to newspersons last night after the annual dinner hosted by the Association of Retired Ambassadors.

Earlier, addressing the function, President Rafiq Tarar said he was confident of early resumption of official talks between Pakistan and India but said normalisation of bilateral relations would remain a dream without settlement of the ''core issue of Kashmir.''

Tarar said Pakistan was keen to resume a meaningful and result-oriented dialogue with India and added, ''we trust that this process will be revived in the near future.''

UNI

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