Pakistan said it appreciated the sincerity of the Indian Government ininviting military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf for talks in New Delhi.
Pakistan said it appreciated the sincerity of the Indian Government ininviting military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf for talks in New Delhi.
However, Defence Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi declined to joinissue on Kashmir ahead of Musharraf's crucial summit meeting with Vajpayee.
"Let us not do any thing to vitiate the atmosphere by joining issues atthis stage," the spokesman said while reacting to Indian Foreign officespokesperson's statement on Saturday.
India reiterated its earlier position on Kashmir saying, Kashmir is anintegral part of India.
Qureshi who is also the press secretary to Gen. Musharraf said the IndianGovernment seems to be sincere in its efforts to make the summit successful."One should not do something to make the Indian Government's standrigid," he said.
He said Pakistan approached the talks with positive optimism and sincerity,adding, "We would not like to say or do anything that spoiled theatmosphere as past experience is not very encouraging."
He said efforts were on from both sides to approach the summit with positiveoptimism and sincerity to resolve the problem.
Qureshi's comments followed Saturday's assertions by Pakistan's ForeignSecretary Inamul Haq that Pakistan will not insist the solution to Kashmir issuewas a pre-requisite for normalisation of relations, if India acknowledgedKashmir problem as the core issue that dominated ties between the two countries.
Haq reportedly told a select gathering of editors and intellectuals that astage had not yet come for both sides to settle down for a comprehensivedialogue on the Kashmir issue.
He stated the stand taken by Gen. Musharraf during his television discussionthat by mentioning Kashmir in the letter inviting him for talks, India hadaccepted it as an issue to be discussed during the talks.
Surprisingly, none of the mainstream newspapers in Pakistan reported Haq'sinteraction with the editors and intellectuals, which was stated to be a part ofexercise to build up a consensus for the summit meeting. (PTI)
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