Author:
Publication: The Economic Times
Date: February 6, 2002
Introduction: Asks PM to accept
offer of dialogue to resolve issue
Striking a confrontationist posture,
Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Atal
Behari 'Vajpayee of 'brinkmanship' and asked him to accept the offer of
dialogue for peaceful resolution of Kashmir and other issues. In a speech
full of rhetoric laced with the usual barbs at India made to the assembly
in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) to mark the observance of 'Kashmir Day',
he charged India with carrying on a 'sinister worldwide campaign to denigrate
and malign the Kashmiri freedom movement' by accusing Pakistan of sponsoring
cross-border terrorism in Kashmir.
Pledging continued political, moral
and diplomatic support, Mr. Musharraf appealed to the international community
to come forward, in the interest of peace in the region and between the
two countries, to mediate and facilitate a solution to the long-standing
dispute. 'Instead of engaging in brinkmanship, Prime Minister Vajpayee
should accept my offer of a dialogue. instead of responding positively
to the hand of reconciliation extended by me, the Indian leadership has
continued with its threatening noises and persists with its massive deployment
of troops ..... which have brought the two countries to a position of eyeball-to-eyeball
confrontation,' Mr. Musharraf said in a no-holds-barred speech.
'This is brinkmanship at its most
dangerous,' he said adding, 'if a war is imposed on Pakistan, we will defend
every inch of our soil with all the means at our disposal and the last
drop of our blood. Let there be no underestimation of our resolve.' Continuing
his tirade against New Delhi, Mr. Musharraf said India left no stone unturned
to portray Kashmir militancy as Islamic fundamentalism and cross-border
terrorism. 'India wants to hoodwink the international public opinion by
playing on western apprehensions. India accuses Pakistan of sponsoring
a proxy war in Kashmir,- he said adding, 'Then how can a movement as strong
as that of Kashmir be sustained from outside.' The Pakistan president said,
'India wants to impose a military solution on the basis of status quo,
consolidating its occupation in defiance of the principles of the UN charter
and the resolutions of the security council. Such attempts elsewhere in
the world have not succeeded. Decisions to depart from UN resolutions in
the past only prolonged conflicts.
