26 October 2004	Tuesday	11 Ramazan 1425

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NEW DELHI, Oct 25: President Gen Pervez Musharraf's proposals on Monday to resolve the Kashmir dispute were of a piece with his previous declarations on the issue that required quiet diplomacy , not public announcements, official sources here said.

The last time Gen Musharraf discussed his ideas on ways to find a solution to the dispute had come in an interview to the Delhi-based Asian Age newspaper earlier this month when he said: "It is simple: identify the region, demilitarize it and change its status."

The sources pointed out that an obliquely similar solution to the matter was mentioned in the Time magazine's report ahead of Gen Musharraf's meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York. The report was promptly described by an Indian spokesman as inaccurate and baseless.

The Time had quoted a senior Indian official as saying that this offer was as a result of Dr Singh's instructions to his foreign affairs team to "think out of the box" on Kashmir and "get a solution, and soon."

The best chance to frame the possibility of a solution along Gen Musharraf's proposed line would come with the visit to Pakistan by the Indian opposition leader Lal Krishan Advani, possibly in January, the sources said.