June 13, 2002	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 1, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, May 12: Pakistan said on Wednesday the measures announced by the Indian government for easing tensions carry “little substance” and reiterated its demand for resumption of meaningful dialogue between the two countries.

The foreign office in a cautiously-worded statement described Indian pronouncements of withdrawing naval ships, lifting restrictions on PIA for flying over India, and nomination of high commissioner as gestures without substance, which had been termed as “peripheral and cosmetic” by President Musharraf at a news conference in Abu Dhabi.

While calling upon the Indian government to agree to immediate resumption of a serious and result-oriented dialogue on Kashmir dispute, the foreign office spokesman also stressed the need to return Indian forces to their peace-time locations.

The spokesman said the decisions conveyed by the Indian government have been taken note of adding that these were meaningless in the given situation.

“In a situation where the Indian forces are massed on Pakistan’s borders in a dangerous posture of confrontation, the Indian decision does not address the main causes of tension,” it added.

The statement issued hours ahead of the arrival of US Secretary Defence Donald Rumsfeld from New Delhi expressed hopes that Indian government would soon announce further steps leading to the resumption of a meaningful dialogue on disputes between the two countries, especially Kashmir.

Pakistan, he added, has noted with concern that the Indian government had intensified repression in the occupied Kashmir.

The assassination of All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Abdul Ghani Lone and the arrest of leaders like Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Syed Ali Gilani, and Yasin Malik represent a dangerous trend in India’s oppressive policies in Kashmir, he added.

In a separate statement the spokesman scoffed at the Indian Home Minister L.K. Advani’s suggestion of a confederation between Pakistan and India.

He said that such a suggestion, viewed in the context of Mr Advani’s Hindu fundamentalist agenda, could only have emerged from a fevered mind which remains irreconcilable to an independent and soveregin Pakistan.