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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kumar who wrote (45273)	12/18/2003 9:45:22 AM
From: JEB	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Ask Ray to tell you about Al-Muhajiroun, ...this should prove be an interesting response.

To: kumar who wrote (45273)	12/18/2003 9:12:52 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

The mother of all proposals...possibly old disputes finally ending -something has changed the basic dynamics of interstate relationships, this much I know that momentum towards universal peace is increasing.. Pakistan can forgo Kashmir plebiscite * Musharraf warns India not to miss ‘a real opportunity’ for peace * India’s abuse of truce to accelerate LoC fencing shows insincerity * Says Vajpayee should discuss Kashmir during SAARC summit * US welcomes offer ISLAMABAD: Pakistan offered to drop a 50-year-old demand for a UN-mandated plebiscite over Kashmir and meet India ‘halfway’ in a bid for peace in the subcontinent. In an interview less than three weeks before a SAARC summit in early January, President Pervez Musharraf said in an interview with Reuters news agency late on Wednesday that he was prepared to be ‘bold and flexible’ in an attempt to resolve the dispute over Kashmir. “If we want to resolve this issue, both sides need to talk to each other with flexibility, coming beyond stated positions, meeting halfway somewhere,” he said. “We are prepared to rise to the occasion, India has to be flexible also.” For more than 50 years, Pakistan has insisted on a plebiscite to allow people in the divided Kashmir to decide between joining India or Pakistan, a position backed by a series of UN Security Council resolutions in the late 1940s. President Musharraf’s proposal opens a new window of opportunity to address one of the world’s most dangerous disputes. All eyes will now be on the planned visit of Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to Islamabad for the SAARC summit. “We are for United Nations Security Council Resolutions,” Musharraf said. “However, now we have left that aside.” Relations between India and Pakistan thawed this year and the two armies agreed to a ceasefire last month along the Line of Control in Kashmir. Musharraf said this represented a “very real opportunity” to make peace, but warned India not to throw away the chance by continuing to spurn dialogue offers. “The basis of everything, the basis of a reduction in militancy...is moving forward on a process of dialogue,” he said. “If that political dialogue doesn’t come about, who wins and who loses? It is the moderates who lose and the extremists who win, and that is exactly what has been happening.” Musharraf refused to be drawn on how to settle the Kashmir dispute, but said any solution must be acceptable to Kashmiris. And he warned India his flexibility should not be seen as weakness. “I’ll be bold in moving it forward, but if somebody thinks I’ll be bold to give up — no sir, I’m not giving up at all. I will not submit to extremist views in Pakistan so I’ll be bold to that extent, but nobody in India should ever think that I’m a person who is going to give up,” he said. Musharraf said Vajpayee should not miss the chance to discuss Kashmir during January’s SAARC summit, but said he would not be pleading for an audience with the Indian leader. “We have come to a stage where there is a thaw in relations, where there is expectation on both sides in the people,” he said. “If the leadership doesn’t rise to the occasion, it is a pity and I think we’ll disappoint our public again,” Musharraf said. “Unfortunately, magnanimity has to come from the bigger and the stronger,” he said. “But they don’t show any magnanimity, they lack magnanimity,” Pakistan’s military ruler said of Indian leaders. He also criticised India for taking advantage of the ceasefire to accelerate construction of a fence along the LoC, a move he said showed ‘insincerity’ about seeking a peaceful solution. US welcomes: The US State Department on Thursday praised Pakistan’s offer to give up its 50-year demand for a plebiscite. “The United States welcomes the proposal by President Musharraf that’s been reported in the press,” US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. “We think it’s constructive to relinquish the demand for a referendum on the status of Kashmir, if those reports prove to be accurate, and it seems they are,” Mr Boucher told reporters. “We believe that engagement and confidence-building measures, such as those recently adopted by both sides, move India and Pakistan towards establishing more normal relations and build for peace.” He also welcomed recent moves by both India and Pakistan to ease tensions. He said Washington was also looking forward to progress at the SAARC summit in Islamabad. A US official said Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage spoke to Pakistani Foreign Minister Mian Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri on Monday. The official said he did not know if Washington had any advance inkling of Musharraf’s proposal. —Reuters/AFP