ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, 3 September 2004 — President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said yesterday Pakistan would continue political and diplomatic efforts to resolve the Kashmir issue in accordance with the aspirations of Kashmiris. Peace in the region hinges on the resolution of Kashmir issue, he said. The president was talking to Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan, prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir in Islamabad..
Meanwhile, India plans to discuss cross-border violence in Kashmir with Pakistan this weekend, Indian foreign minister said yesterday as 14 people died and nearly a dozen were wounded in a surge of separatist violence in Indian Kashmir.
Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri will begin meetings in New Delhi on Sunday to review a peace process bogged down over Kashmir.
India, struggling to quell a 15-year uprising in the region, says Islamabad has failed to keep a promise to halt incursions into Kashmir and crack down on militant camps in Pakistan. “This is an issue which we hope to take up,” Natwar told NDTV and agreed with the questioner that it was a serious one. Pakistan denies pushing militants into Kashmir to join the uprising there and says no camps exist on its soil.
Indian police said the three militants killed in Kashmir overnight had been trying to breach the military control line. Several other militants escaped, a police officer said.
Natwar said New Delhi, which considers the Himalayan region an integral part of the country, was willing to discuss Kashmir with Pakistan but there were several other issues on the table.
“We will discuss the nuclear question, trade, commerce, book fairs, communication,” he said in excerpts of an interview broadcast yesterday. New Delhi was keen to start bus services linking Indian and Pakistan parts of Kashmir, he said.
Suspected militants, meanwhile, overnight shot dead Nazir Malik, a senior functionary of the state’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party in central Budgam district, police said. Also overnight, militants shot dead a former colleague now working for Indian troops in the southern town of Anantnag, police said.
Three militants and a soldier from the Indian Army were killed during separate clashes in Kashmir, police said. The police spokesman added that three more militants died during a clash between the Lashkar-e-Taiba movement and Kashmir’s largest militant group, Hizbul Mujahedeen.
