ISLAMABAD, 10 April 2005 — Pakistan’s President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that talks on the lingering Kashmir dispute, and not cricket, would top the agenda of his visit to India next week.
“Cricket is not that important when I go on April 16 — but the talks on Kashmir (are),” he told a students’ convention during a dialogue with them.
Musharraf plans to visit India on April 16 to watch the last one-day cricket match of the ongoing series between the two countries on the following day.
Yesterday, Musharraf told a gathering of students here he is more interested in talks on Kashmir than watching cricket.
“I am going to India on April 16 to watch the cricket match ... I will discuss Kashmir ... it is more important,” he said.
Musharraf last visited India in 2001 at the city of Agra for a summit with then-Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. But the two leaders failed to reach any agreement on Kashmir.
He did not agree with a university student from Pakistani-administered Kashmir that the recently launched bus service between the divided parts of the disputed Himalayan state had no significance.
“It is a right step which must be appreciated, but we need to do more,” he said with an obvious reference to the need to resolve the Kashmir dispute. Musharraf said the bus service was a step not toward the solution of the Kashmir problem but toward the confidence-building measures (CBMs).
He said Kashmiri leaders from both the Indian-administered and Pakistani-administered Kashmir were consulted on initiating the bus service and “the feedback from the vast majority of them said they were in favor of this,” he added.
Musharraf said the Muzzafarabad-Srinagar bus service was meant for the Kashmiri people and not for Pakistan or India.
“It was the desire and aspirations of the people living on both sides of the line of control to travel and meet each other,” he added.
The bus service was launched on Thursday and carried about 50 passengers who crossed the LoC from both sides.
Musharraf said the bus service was a good step but efforts were on to resolve the Kashmir dispute. — Additional input from agencies.
