ISLAMABAD, 8 January 2004 — Pakistan’s opposition parties rebuked President Pervez Musharraf yesterday over his breakthrough deal to reopen formal talks with India, accusing him of making too many concessions on Kashmir.

“We cannot call it a historic event,” said Raja Zafarul Haq, leader of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, challenging Musharraf’s proclamation that history had been made.

“Pakistan has substantially withdrawn from its stated position on Kashmir without any quid pro quo,” he told AFP.

Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee issued a landmark agreement, after talking on the sidelines of a South Asia summit in Islamabad, to resume dialogue from February on issues including Kashmir, two years after coming to the brink of their fourth war.

They expressed confidence in their statement that the resumption of dialogue would lead to “peaceful settlement” of all bilateral issues including Kashmir.

Zafar said the joint statement marked a “significant change” in Pakistan’s policy on Kashmir by omitting reference to United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for a referendum in the disputed territory.

“But for the first time in 56 years this is not done in the joint statement issued in Islamabad,” Zafar said.

“They are now seeking a settlement acceptable to both India and Pakistan.” Musharraf offered to put aside Pakistan’s demand for a referendum in the lead-up to the summit.

The religious alliance Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) also dismissed the agreement as “one-sided”. “Pakistan is sidelining the UN resolution on Kashmir,” said MMA executive Hafiz Hussain Ahmed.

“Musharraf has pledged to block the Kashmiri struggle from Pakistan’s side but got nothing in return from India, not even a pledge that the 700,000-strong Indian occupation force will stop atrocities on the territory under its control.” Musharraf reassured Vajpayee that he would not permit any territory under Pakistan’s control to be used for terrorism. India has been insisting that militants based in the Pakistani-controlled zone of Kashmir cross the de-facto border in order to foment unrest in its insurgency-hit zone.

The Pakistan People’s Party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto warned that the peace process would remain “fragile” in the absence of a political consensus in Pakistan.

It criticized the fact that the joint statement was signed by Musharraf, who is also the country’s army chief, and not by Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali.

“The party believes that the peace process can be advanced only if there is a genuine consensus within the country on issues of national security,” it said.

Newspapers in both Pakistan and India hailed Tuesday’s pact between Prime Minister Vajpayee and President Musharraf as a significant opportunity to forge a durable peace between the nuclear-armed rivals. But they warned against expectations of quick solutions to disputes that have seen the neighbors fight three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 and go to the brink of a fourth just two years ago.

“The people of South Asia, and the entire world, expect the two governments to maintain the momentum toward peace,” Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper said in an editorial. “The problems may be daunting, but they are not beyond solutions. Given a sense of realism and a shared vision — the vision of a South Asia free from tension and conflict — Pakistan and India can make it.”

Pakistan’s Daily Times said it was clear considerable international pressure had been exerted to push the two sides back to the negotiating table.