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India rejects Powell's remark on Kashmir

India on Tuesday rejected US Secretary of State Colin Powell's statement in Pakistan that resolution of the Kashmir problem is central to normalisation of relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.

"We do not agree with this premise," asserted external affairs ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao as Powell arrived in New Delhi for talks with Indian leaders.

The problem in Jammu and Kashmir is the result of cross-border terrorism promoted by Pakistan, the spokeswoman said.

"There should be no confusion between cause and effect. The present situation in J&K is a consequence of state-sponsored cross-border terrorism. The problem is not the cause but the consequence of Pakistan's action," she added.

Powell had made the statement at a press conference he jointly addressed with Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad.

Rao, however, said India was always for dialogue with Pakistan, but Islamabad had to create conditions for it by putting an end to promotion of cross-border terrorism. She noted that there had been no lessening of violence in J&K.

She also said Pakistan needed to abjure its 'unifocal approach' and 'one-point agenda' on Kashmir. "We take the issue in its whole perspective."

Commenting on the remarks by both Powell and Musharraf that 'moderate' elements of the Taleban would be represented in the post-Taleban set-up in Afghanistan, the spokeswoman said: "There is nothing called moderate Taleban."

"Moderate Taleban is an oxymoron," she said and added that India supported a broad-based government in Kabul and the Taleban had no place in such a structure.

She said this was also the view of Iran, expressed by Deputy Foreign Minister Mohsen Aminzada, who is in India for a review meeting of the India-Iran Joint Commission.

Aminzada said the two countries held detailed exchange of views on the situation in Afghanistan.

Indo-Asian News Service

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