August 11, 2002	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Saani 1, 1423

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

RAWALPINDI, Aug 10: Pakistan on Saturday dismissed state elections in Indian-controlled Kashmir beginning next month as a charade which would not give people the choice they wanted in the disputed Himalayan region.

It also rejected a series of conditions set by New Delhi for the resumption of dialogue between the nuclear-armed rivals.

“Regardless of the drama they (the Indians) would like to enact, that is no substitute for giving them (Kashmiris) a choice of joining Pakistan or India,” said Maj-Gen Rashid Qureshi, spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf.

He was referring to state elections in Indian-occupied Kashmir which New Delhi hopes will bolster the legitimacy of its rule.

The country’s only Muslim-majority state, Indian Kashmir has been racked by over a decade of separatist bloodshed.

India is particularly keen for a fair and credible election after a widely discredited vote in 1987 turned resentment against Indian rule into a rebellion which continues to this day.

But New Delhi suffered a blow when the head of the All Parties Hurriyat Council said it would boycott the poll.

“The Indians have held such farces of elections many times before,” Qureshi said, adding that people were forced to the ballot box “at bayonet point” in the earlier vote.

Pakistan seeks implementation of 1948-49 U.N. resolutions for a plebiscite to determine whether Kashmiris wish to join India or Pakistan and says the elections are no substitute.

Qureshi said Kashmiris were not yet being offered the choice between India, Pakistan and independence.

India has listed steps it wants Pakistan to take before resuming talks, including stopping infiltration and communication between rebels on both sides of the border and ordering militants in Indian Kashmir to stop their activities.

“They are trying to hint that guidance is given from Pakistani Kashmir to people in Indian-occupied Kashmir,” said Qureshi, adding that the charge was untrue.

“Pakistan is not responsible (for violence in Indian Kashmir). Pakistan says nothing is happening along the Line of Control.”

He said Musharraf had vowed Pakistan would not be used “for any violence or terrorism within Pakistan and outside Pakistan”, although it provided moral support to Kashmiri freedom fighters.—Reuters