New Delhi, March 14
India today rejected Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s assertion that Jammu and Kashmir was the central or core issue between the two countries and said his description of unrest in the valley as freedom struggle is not tenable.The language of the January 6 Islamabad joint press statement is clear and unambiguous, said a statement issued by the External Affairs Ministry.
“It delineates how the process has to be sustained and taken forward. Violence, hostility and terrorism must be prevented. The President of Pakistan had reassured the Prime Minister of India that he would not permit the territory under Pakistan’s control to be used to support terrorism in any manner. There is no reference to any so-called central or core issue, but to addressing all bilateral issues, including Jammu and Kashmir,” the statement said.
Any unilateral interpretation of the joint press statement is not conducive to building trust or taking the process forward. Nor is public rhetoric which is also contrary to the understandings and restraints observed since January, the External Affairs Ministry said in the statement.
At the India Today Conclave here President Musharraf said in his keynote address via satellite link from Islamabad that Kashmir lay at the heart of Indo-Pak confrontation.
The Indian statement said today the double standards in describing the violent attack on him as terrorism but on the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in October 2001 and on present Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed recently as a freedom struggle are clearly not tenable.”
India is determined to continue with the process initiated by the Prime Minister in April last year and on the basis of the framework agreed upon, it added. —
UNI
