27 October 2004	Wednesday	12 Ramazan 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 26: The opposition parties on Tuesday rejected President General Pervez Musharraf's proposal for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute, describing it as a U-turn from the country's previous policies on the issue.

Addressing a news conference after boycotting the National Assembly session, opposition members belonging to the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal said Gen Musharraf had no mandate to announce any solution to the Kashmir issue.

The deputy parliamentary leader of the MMA, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, said that Gen Musharraf had set aside the decade-old United Nations resolutions at once by declaring that the Kashmir issue cannot be resolved through a plebiscite.

The MMA leader announced that the opposition would mobilize the masses on the issue and his alliance would table a privilege motion in the house against Gen Musharraf. He said that after Gen Musharraf's proposals, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on Kashmir should resign.

Mr Baloch accused President Musharraf of taking a U-turn on the Kashmir issue. "This is the second U-turn after Afghanistan," he said, referring to the withdrawal of support to the Taliban by the president in the wake of 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Acting parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N, MNA Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, said while India had not stepped back even an inch from its stance on Kashmir, Gen Musharraf had come forward to abandon the country's policy on the issue.

"How can an individual announce such a major decision, bypassing the parliament and the cabinet?" Chaudhry Nisar asked. Had such a proposal come from an elected leader, he would have been charged with treason, the PML-N leader said.

"No person can sell the country's interests under the cover of his military uniform," he declared.

Another PML-N MNA, Tehmina Daultana, said that first Gen Musharraf announced a unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir and allowed India to erect a fence along the Line of Control and now he had come up with new options to resolve the issue.

She said that before withdrawing from Kashmir, the army should return to barracks in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, in a statement, PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq termed President Musharraf's proposal against 'the vital interests of the country' and a 'diversionary tactic' to cover the government's indefensible stand on the 17th Amendment.

Mr Haq said: "The announcement of a so-called proposal to settle Kashmir issue by Gen Musharraf would really shock the people of Pakistan, and more so the people of the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, who have made unparalleled sacrifices during all these years, simply for the sake of exercising their inalienable right of self-determination.

"In this struggle, the 14 million Kashmiris have lost around 100,000 valiant men and women, who lie buried in various graveyards of the occupied territory. These graves are a testimony their future was recognized by the United Nations.

"If Gen Musharraf's proposal is an effort to discourage the people of Kashmir in their freedom struggle, it is bound to fail; it cannot dampen their spirits because basically the decision has to be theirs and non else."

The PML-N leader said "if this proposal is meant for serious negotiations then it is more unfortunate because Pakistan would have nothing to negotiate after giving up its stand on plebiscite".

The present rulers do, he maintained, did not realize the damage to vital interests of the country by retreating from their basic position even before the negotiations.

APP adds: Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali Khan said that 'strong political will' and courage required for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute.

Addressing a press conference at Peshawar, he said "extreme political courage and will from both sides required for resolving the core issue of Kashmir".

Both Pakistan and India, the ANP leader said, had to abandon their stated positions in order to settle the dispute through political means.

Mr Khan said it was a good omen that a man in uniform was now talking of the settlement of the dispute through talks.