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J&K poll a farce: Musharraf

Islamabad, August 14
Terming as “farcical” the forthcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, President Pervez Musharraf said today that Pakistan should not be held responsible for the failure of the poll there, even as he renewed his threat to take the battle into the Indian territory if attacked.

“Pakistan cannot accept any responsibility for developments inside Kashmir. Nor can India try to shift the onus of the failure of the elections to Pakistan”, General Musharraf said in his address to the nation after hoisting the Pakistani flag on the 55th Independence Day.

He alleged that the proposed poll in Jammu and Kashmir was yet another “mask” given by India to justify its “occupation” of the valley.

“The Pakistan position on this issue is based on UN Security Council resolutions. Elections cannot be a substitute to free and impartial plebiscite under the UN auspices”, he said in his address in the Convention Centre, a venue chosen due to fears of militant threats.

“Pakistan supports the principle struggle of the people of Kashmir for the right to self-determination, since long promised to them by the international community. This struggle...can never be compromised,” he said.

General Musharraf also rejected as “self-serving” India’s argument that peaceful elections in Jammu and Kashmir was a test of Pakistan’s sincerity to hold dialogue with New Delhi to resolve the Kashmir issue.

General Musharraf said the All-Party Hurriyat Conference, which he described as “credible voice” of Kashmiris, had rejected the elections.

He alleged that “the intimidating presence of... Indian security personnel to force the Kashmir people to participate in the elections will further deny such elections any semblance of legitimacy.”

“While reiterating our desire to have a peaceful solution to Kashmir and all other outstanding issues, we want to make it abundantly clear that we will never be subdued by coercion. No one dare think of any adventurism across our borders,” he said.

The President virtually rejected the opinion of the USA and other members of the international community that the Jammu and Kashmir elections was the first step towards a solution to the Kashmir issue, saying that there could never be peace in South Asia without solving the issue. PTI

Steps to counter Pak designs
PM to spell out response in I-Day speech
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 14
The war of words between India and Pakistan suddenly reached a feverish pitch today as Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf threatened "to carry the fight across the border" and New Delhi responded by saying that it would take "the necessary measures" to counter Islamabad’s designs.

General Pervez Musharraf, in his address on the occasion of Pakistan’s independence day, took his anti-India rhetoric to a completely new dimension when he dropped clear hints, for the first time, of turning an aggressor against India to safeguard Pakistan.

The most relevant quotable quote of Gen Musharraf is as follows: "We want to make it abundantly clear that we will never be subdued by coercion. No one dare think of any adventurism across the border. Your armed forces are standing guard on the borders... Your valiant forces ... (would) not only defend every inch of the mother land but to carry the fight across the border insha allah."

Well placed sources told The Tribune that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had taken note of this aggressive tone and tenor of Gen Musharraf and crucial inputs were added to Mr Vajpayee’s Independence Day speech which he would be delivering from the ramparts of the Red Fort tomorrow morning.

Mr Vajpayee is expected to give his measured and appropriate response to Gen Musharraf’s India-bashing in his speech, tomorrow, sources added.

However, the Ministry of External Affairs in its eight-paragraph reaction to Gen Musharraf’s "empty rhetoric" did not specifically mention the General’s implied threat of Pakistan turning an aggressor against India, though the statement left no doubt that New Delhi perfectly understood the tone and tenor of Gen Musharraf as well as his designs.

Sources said Gen Musharraf’s above-mentioned utterance was "serious" and it was significant that for the first time he had hinted about his intentions of a military aggression against India.

The MEA took note of Gen Musharraf pledging to continue his country’s moral, diplomatic and political support to the “freedom struggle” going on in Kashmir and his terming the forthcoming J&K elections as “farcical”.

The MEA statement said: “After the rigged referendum in Pakistan and constitutional and political manipulations that are going on before the October elections there, one would have hoped that Gen Musharraf would have been more restrained in his pronouncements on elections in J&K. Perhaps it is the contrast between free and fair elections in J&K within the framework of India’s democracy and the national elections in Pakistan conducted by a military regime that worries him.

“His denigration of the electoral process in J&K and indirect exhortations to boycott the elections, coupled with disowning for terrorist activity sponsored to disrupt the electoral process in J&K, indicate that our concerns that Pakistan intends to sabotage these elections are well founded. Conduct of peaceful elections in J&K is linked to Pakistan’s peaceful conduct, and this responsibility Gen Musharraf does not seem to want to discharge.”

In a diplomatic language, the MEA said it was “regrettable” that Gen Musharraf should continue to indulge in such negative posturing and seek to heighten tensions by provactive language. “We have taken note of his intention to disrupt peaceful elections in J&K and to continue his hostile postures towards India. The Government of India will take the necessary measures to counter Pakistan’s designs.”