NEW DELHI, June 14: India said on Saturday it was “deeply disappointed” by President Pervez Musharraf’s response to recent peace overtures, but added that it would continue with its efforts.
A foreign ministry statement said New Delhi was most concerned about remarks Gen Musharraf made in an interview with NDTV broadcast on Saturday about clashes in 1999 between Indian and Pakistani forces in Kargil.
In the interview, the president did not rule out the possibility of such an episode happening again.
The Indian statement said Gen Musharraf’s comments implied “military adventurism” was a legitimate way to solve the dispute between the two countries over Kashmir.
“How can a peace initiative go forward in the face of such a signal non-peaceful intent?” the statement asked.
However, it added: “India will continue with its recent efforts, which have also found a tremendous resonance amongst the people and civil society in Pakistan.”
FERNANDES: India Defence Minister George Fernandes welcomed a statement by President Musharraf that he was willing to meet Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for talks.
“This is a positive development,” Mr Fernandes was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency.
In the interview with Indian TV channel NDTV, Gen Musharraf said: “Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali may be a better person for him to meet, but if Mr Vajpayee is willing to meet me, I would be more than willing to meet him and lead the talks.”
But Mr Fernandes said there was still a long way to go before talks could be held.
“Confidence-building measures (undertaken by the two countries) are not an indication towards a resumption of the dialogue process,” he said.
“There has been some talks regarding resumption of bus and train services to Pakistan. But that does not mean we are moving towards resumption of talks.
He alleged that there had been no let up in cross-border infiltration.
“More or less, things are the same on the border,” he said.—Reuters/AFP
