November 25, 2003	Tuesday	Ramazan 29, 1424

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MUZAFFARABAD, Nov 24: AJK Finance and Rehabilitation Minister Shah Ghulam Qadir on Monday welcomed Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali’s offer to India for a ceasefire along the Line of Control and called upon New Delhi to reciprocate in the same manner to prove its sincerity towards the establishment of peace.

“We welcome the offer by Prime Minister Jamali and hope that India would positively respond to it without any pre-conditions,” Mr Qadir said while talking to Dawn by telephone.

Mr Qadir, who is the secretary-general of the Muslim Conference, said the real problem for the Kashmiris was shelling by the “trigger-happy” Indian troops, which had disturbed the civic life along the LoC.

Indian troops, he said, had been ceaselessly targeting the civilian populations of Azad Kashmir without any provocation, causing huge losses.

He said 133 civilians had died and another 476 wounded in Indian shelling in Azad Kashmir since January. Last year, the toll was 169 dead and nearly 780 wounded, he said.

He said a positive response by India could bring relief to the people and lead towards the establishment of peace in the region.

The minister stressed that dialogue between India and Pakistan was a must to materialize the confidence-building measures and different proposals being floated from both sides.

“Initiatives won’t work unless both sides sit across the negotiating table and work out how to put them to practice,” he said.

He appreciated the offer for a bus service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar but reiterated that there must be a “technical dialogue” on all matters.

AJK Forests Minister Mufti Mansoorur Rehman was of the view that the offer would be meaningless if India did not stop the shelling of civilians.

“There is no substitute to peace, but we have to see whether India is sincere to establish peace,” said Mr Rehman, who has been elected from the Neelum valley along the heavily LoC.