NEW DELHI, June 23: Foreign Minister Khursheed Mahmood Kasuri on Monday urged India to stop demonizing President Pervez Musharraf and stressed that he (Gen Musharraf) was as much a statesman as Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Mr Kasuri told India’s Doordarshan TV that India had excessively cited the Kargil episode that soured ties between the two countries while overlooking India’s military thrust in the Siachen area several years ago.

“Why don’t you give credit to President Musharraf at all?,” Mr Kasuri asked, while acknowledging Mr Vajpayee’s show of statesmanship in Agra and more recently in Srinagar.

Mr Kasuri said Pakistan should similarly stop demonizing Indian Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan Advani, considered by many to be a hawk vis-a-vis Islamabad.

Asked if Pakistan had a roadmap for peace with India, Mr Kasuri remarked: “More than road maps, you need a meeting of minds. That can only take place if you meet.”

Mr Kasuri said India and Pakistan had come very close to an agreement in Agra.

“It is no secret that they had arrived at an agreement,” he said, adding that this could be verified from reports in the Indian media.

Praising Mr Vajpayee as a statesman, Mr Kasuri said that even as a foreign minister in 1978 he was popular in Pakistan.

“Our relations were very good during the government of (Indian Prime Minister) Morarji Desai’s government,” Mr Kasuri said. He agreed with Mr Vajpayee’s view that India could not choose its neighbours but said even if geography could not be altered, the two countries could make a new mark on history.

“In order to make history you have got to be statesmen not just a politician,” he said.

“I can get many more votes by attacking India, by demonising India. A lot of people have made careers in both countries by doing precisely that,” Mr Kasuri said. He said being a resident of the region facing Ferozepur in India, hawkishness would be helpful in getting votes by demonizing India.

“You talk about Kargil, but you ignore Siachen,” Mr Kasuri said. “You do not understand what it does to Pakistan’s pshyche.”