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Author:
Publication: Sify.com
Date: December 25, 2006
URL: http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14356662
L.K. Advani on Sunday accused India's government of trying to settle the decades-old dispute with Pakistan over Kashmir by compromising New Delhi's long-held position that the Himalayan region is an integral part territory.
''I would like to warn the country that the government is planning to make a major surrender on Jammu and Kashmir,'' Advani, a key leader of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, told the party's national council meeting in Lucknow, the capital of northern Uttar Pradesh state.
''I am worried. If people are not alert, this government can make a compromise,'' said Advani, without elaborating on his accusation. Excerpts from his speech were carried by Indian television news channels.
Advani's accusation came four days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh welcomed peace proposals from Pakistan - an indication that the longtime rivals may be working on a deal over divided Kashmir.
There was no immediate reaction from Singh's government.
India and Pakistan have fought two wars over control of Kashmir since they won independence from Britain in 1947.
Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf earlier this month said Islamabad was willing to give up its claim to all of the region if India reciprocated and agreed to jointly administer Kashmir, which would be granted a wide degree of autonomy.
Musharraf's comments, made in an interview with India's NDTV station, came less than a month after India and Pakistan renewed the peace process, temporarily suspended by New Delhi following the July 11 Mumbai train bombings, which killed more than 200 people. India says Pakistan's intelligence agency played a role in the attack, a charge Islamabad denies.
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