ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, 24 April 2003 — Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf yesterday declared Islamabad’s willingness for dialogue with India on all issues as Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajapayee reiterated that Pakistan can “open the doors for talks” on disputed Kashmir by ending the infiltration of militants into the restive state.
“We are prepared to engage in a comprehensive dialogue with India on Kashmir and all other outstanding issues,” Musharraf was quoted as saying by the Associated Press of Pakistan, at a banquet for visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
“Kashmir has been at the heart of Pakistan-India differences since independence.” The comments were Gen. Musharraf’s first in response to Vajapayee’s weekend offer to sit down to talks with Pakistan, as Pakistan has repeatedly urged.
Musharraf said he was glad to see “positive indications” from India. “We hope these can be pursued to greater interacting process.” Vajpayee however qualified his dialogue offer with the requirement that Pakistan end its alleged support of militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir.
Vajpayee repeated yesterday that Pakistan can “open the doors for talks” on Kashmir by ending the infiltration of militants.
“Talks can take place on all issues, including that of Jammu and Kashmir,” Vajpayee said while briefing the lower house of Parliament on his two-day tour of Indian-administered Kashmir at the weekend.
“I expressed the hope that a new beginning could take place between India and Pakistan,” the prime minister said, referring to an address he delivered at a public rally in the state’s summer capital Srinagar on Friday.
“I said that we have extended our hand of friendship. Let us see how Pakistan responds to this. Stopping cross-border infiltration and destruction of terrorist infrastructure can open the doors for talks,” he said.
Vajapayee added, however, that any possible peace initiative needed reciprocity.
Meanwhile, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will visit India and Pakistan next month on a mission to push the nuclear rivals to dialogue, a Pakistani official said yesterday.
Armitage, Washington’s diplomatic troubleshooter, will arrive in Islamabad on May 9 after talks in New Delhi on May 8 with Indian leaders, a senior Foreign Ministry official told AFP.
“He is arriving in Islamabad on May 9 for a one-day visit. He will hold talks with President (Pervez) Musharraf and Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali,” the official said, on condition of anonymity.
