22 January 2004	Thursday	29 Ziqa'ad 1424

ISLAMABAD, Jan 21: Kashmiri leadership wants the Pakistan government to accord priority to the Kashmir issue during the forthcoming talks expected to be held in the second half of February this year.

Most of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leaders in Pakistan are understood to have called for another meeting with President Gen Pervez Musharraf to make sure that the Kashmir issue would not be "sidelined" during the initial round of talks with India.

An important APHC leader told Dawn that they were being asked by Islamabad not to insist on an immediate settlement of the Kashmir dispute and to wait for at least six months for substantive talks on the issue to begin.

"We are being told that international environment is not quite favourable, therefore we should wait and not seek the resolution of the Kashmir problem in haste," he said.

"We are being given to understand that issues like the start of a bus service and ensuring people-to-people contact would precede substantive talks on tough issues like Kashmir," he added. However, he said the Indian government had reportedly assured Pakistan that the election process in India would not be allowed to hamper the dialogue process.

He said India had communicated to Pakistan that early elections being held in April 2004, would not create any hurdle and that the talks would continue without any problem. "But the peace process can get stalled if Prime Minister Vajpaee's government fails to return to power after the next Lok Sabha elections," he said. He pointed out that the Indian government was holding elections before time just to cash in on the easing of tension with Pakistan.

Another APHC leader said Kashmiris needed to be taken into confidence on various solutions to the Kashmir problem being discussed in and outside Pakistan.

Earlier, he said, Kashmiris had been told that India was not ready for division of Kashmir on the basis of religion nor did it want a plebiscite or any UN role. According to Pakistani leaders, he said, India might accept a geographic division of Kashmir at a later stage as was once hinted by Prime Minister Vajpaee.

When contacted, Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said they were all "unsubstantiated fears" that Kashmir would be sidelined or Pakistan would make any compromise on it. "Let me tell you that there is no question of throwing Kashmir in the cold storage," he assured.

He said Pakistan wanted negotiations to resolve all contentious issues including that of Jammu and Kashmir through a composite dialogue. Another official source said that since the peace process was still in its infancy, Pakistan was trying to adopt a careful approach to avoid any breakdown in talks. "But under no circumstances Kashmir would be forgotten, and I assure the Kashmiris that they will be taken into confidence at every step," he added.