March 29, 2003	Saturday	Muharram 25, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 28: The government on Friday welcomed a joint US-UK call for early renewal of dialogue between Pakistan and India but rejected outright their statement insinuating that Pakistan had not fulfilled its commitment on cross-border infiltration.

Islamabad took a serious exception to the joint US-UK statement issued in Washington on Thursday, pushing for Pakistan to “fulfil its commitment to stop infiltration” across the Line of Control in Kashmir.

The statement signed by foreign secretaries of both the countries had said: “Pakistan should also do its utmost to discourage any acts of violence by militants in Kashmir.”

A copy of the statement was formally handed over to Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri by the US ambassador Nancy Powell and British High Commissioner Hilary Synnott at the foreign office here on Friday afternoon, informed sources told Dawn.

A statement issued by the foreign office spokesman later said: “Unfortunately the statement does not condemn the gross human rights violations and the reign of repression unleashed by the Indian security forces in the Indian Occupied Kashmir which have intensified in recent past.”

He reiterated that as an effective member of the international coalition against terrorism, Pakistan had done its utmost to combat this menace and would continue to do so.

“Pakistan was also ensuring that no violation of LoC was being permitted,” the spokesman said, referring to Pakistan’s proposals for independent verification of movement across the LoC through strengthening the UN Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan and stationing of neutral monitors.

According to relevant and reliable sources the foreign secretary, Riaz Khokhar, in his meeting with the British High Commissioner on Friday told him that the Pakistan policy-makers categorically rejected the two implied assertions flowing from the statement.

One, that Pakistan was somehow involved in the recent massacre of 24 Hindus in Kashmir. The Anglo-American representatives were reminded in their meeting with the foreign minister and other senior officials at the ministry that Pakistan was the first to condemn this tragic and terrible crime.

Two, the statement cited terrorism events which involved killings of Hindus, and not those in which leading Muslim Kashmiris, including Commander Majid Dar and other innocent Kashmiris, lost their lives, conveying the suggestion that Hindu deaths were somehow more condemnable than Muslim deaths.

In this context it was stressed that Pakistan believed that sincere and objective positions by world leaders on issues affecting South Asia could make a positive contribution to promoting peace and security in the region.

Pakistan welcomed part of the statement that emphasized that “differences between India and Pakistan can only be resolved through peaceful means and engagement”, and which advocated “active steps to reduce tension, including by moves within the Saarc context.”

However, Pakistan regretted that India had chosen not to reciprocate to Pakistan’s standing offer for talks at any level, any time and any place.

The joint US-UK statement came a day after New Delhi’s outrage was reported in the Indian press over Washington’s proposal of resumption of Pakistan-India talks in the backdrop of killings of 24 Hindu pundits in Kashmir. Reportedly, the Indian establishment had been irked by Washington’s acknowledgment of Pakistan being a key player in the war against terrorism at a time when it is blaming Pakistan for “sponsoring terrorism” in Kashmir.

The statement is being seen by observers as a damage-control attempt to appease New Delhi that has thus far kept relatively quiet on the much-criticized Iraq War.

APP adds: Pakistan on Friday termed the failure of India to give prior notice about the test-fire of Prithvi missile as reflective of its hypocrisy on arms control issue.

“India has chosen to erode the value of confidence-building measures,” a foreign office spokesman said here Friday in response to a statement of Indian external affairs ministry, which had termed the practice of prior notification of missile tests “meaningless.” The reaction, he said, “should not come as a surprise to anybody.”