GILGIT, Jan 10: Northern Areas Chief Executive Fida Muhammad Nashad, NALC Speaker Sahib Khan, advisers Saifur Rahman Khan, Imran Nadeem, Sheikh Haider Najfi and other members lauded on Thursday friendly gestures offered by President Musharraf to Atal Behari Vajpayee at the Saarc summit in Katmandu.

They said Mr Musharraf had reiterated his commitment to defuse tension showing his readiness to solve mutual problems through dialogue.

They deplored that despite these peace offers from the President, the Indian premier could not reciprocate the gestures to put an end to the war euphoria.

The attitude of Vajpayee reflected that he was under pressure of his party hawks who, they said, wanted to exploit the situation.