ISLAMABAD, Dec 22: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has expressed its concern over the rapidly escalating tension between India and Pakistan and advised the government to resolve them through bilateral talks.

Noting that the military regime had turned to Washington to prevent the tension escalating into armed action, a PPP spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday that the repeated reliance on Washington to solve problems in the region, instead of taking up the issues by ourselves, was “an ill omen”.

“Our inability to find solutions has led to external reliance instead of internal reliance”.

“The internal paralysis and the turning to Washington was also evident in Islamabad‘s handling of the Kargil crisis, its inability to convince the Taliban to extradite Osama bin Laden prior to September 11 and post-September 11, its inability to persuade Afghans for an in-house change to prevent the war and now its inability to handle the parliament attack in India.”

The spokesperson said that reduction of tension and building of peace in the region was the need of the hour to prevent a possible conflict between the two countries. He noted that the dismissal of the PPP government had seen a steady erosion of regional stability in the volatile South Asian region.

The spokesperson noted that the dismissal of the PPP government led to nuclear detonations, fighting in Kargil, takeover of Kabul by the Al-Qaeda, attacks in the US and the consequent bombing of Afghanistan. “Now the country is confronted with the fall out of the parliament attack in India.”

He said the series of events that took place since 1996 demonstrated more clearly than ever why Pakistan‘s self respect and honour lay in an elected government representing the will of the people.

The spokesperson called for the holding of fair, free and impartial elections under the electoral reform package announced by the PPP under an interim government of national consensus and an impartial administration.

“The party apprehends that without an end to dictatorship, the country, its people and the region would continue to suffer extreme dangers.”