Benazir hails talks on N-conflict safeguards -DAWN


15 December 2004	Wednesday	02 Ziqa'ad 1425

Benazir hails talks on N-conflict safeguards
By Our Reporter

ISLAMABAD, Dec 14: Pakistan People's Party Chairperson and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has welcomed Indo-Pakistan talks on creation of nuclear conflict safeguards.

In a statement issued by the PPP media cell here on Tuesday Ms Bhutto said that the Pakistan Peoples Party government was the first to sign a nuclear confidence treaty with India.

The agreement on non-attack on each other's nuclear facilities was signed in December 1988 with the government of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The PPP doctrine of building tension-free relations with India in the spirit of the Simla Accord has now reached a consensus in Pakistan, she said.

The government is following the footsteps of the PPP in negotiating peaceful relations with India, which have remained plagued due to the Kashmir dispute, she said. Meanwhile in Kathmandu, Kashmiri leaders from both sides of the Line of Control are meeting to explore confidence building.

Ms Bhutto noted that dialogue aimed at "stopping a nuclear conflict was of enormous importance to the well being of the people of South Asia given that both countries had proven nuclear capabilities".

South Asia was once described as the "most dangerous place on earth". This was when both countries detonated nuclear devices in 1998 against the historical background of their having fought three wars since independence over Kashmir.

She recalled that the PPP government had negotiated the non-attack on each other's nuclear installation agreement in 1988 against the backdrop of further measures for confidence building, including talks on the mutual reduction and redeployment of troops.

The PPP chairperson hoped that the two countries would take up the issue of troops redeployment and reduction. The former premier said the peoples of South Asia needed to take their place in the international community with pride and respect free of the stigma of poverty and backwardness, excelling in science, technology and medicine.