ISLAMABAD, Jan 6: Kashmiri leaders have cautiously welcomed the Pakistan-India joint declaration released on Tuesday.

Welcoming the intended composite dialogue between the two countries, they expressed skepticism about the use of the term terrorism for those waging struggle for the liberation of Kashmir.

They said the term terrorism ought to be redefined in such a way as to make it clear that liberation struggles recognized by the United Nations did not fall in the category.

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Amanullah Khan termed the declaration a sellout on the Kashmir issue. Talking to newsmen after the news conference of Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri at a hotel, he said Pakistan had surrendered before the dictates of India over Kashmir. He said the "sellout" was even worse than the surrender in Dhaka in 1971.

He said the Kashmiri struggle had been compromised and dubbed as terrorism. Former Azad Kashmir prime minister Sardar Abdul Qayum Khan said the people of Kashmir could not be ignored when the composite dialogue took place.

Welcoming the announcement about the dialogue, he said: "We were expecting a composite dialogue between the two nuclear capable states and that the ice would melt sooner than later."

He said that besides the United Nations resolutions there were a number of other proposals which had come up and which could also be considered at the time of a final package settlement of the issue.

The convener of the Pakistan chapter of the All Parties' Hurriyet Conference (Gilani), Farooq Rahmani, said that while the commencement of dialogue was a good news it should be made clear that any negotiations on Kashmir without the inclusion of the people of the territory would neither be accepted nor meaningful.

He criticized the statement in which it had been said that the Pakistani soil would not be allowed to be used for terrorist activities and said it gave the impression that such a practice was going on.

APHC leader Syed Yousuf Nasim said no solution of the Kashmir issue was acceptable to the people of the region other than one reached through the implementation of the UN resolutions.

He said the ceasefire line was not a permanent border and no one could stop Kashmiris from moving across it, nor could it be termed terrorism. Our Staff Correspondent in Muzaffarabad adds: The Hizbul Mujahideen on Tuesday offered a guarded response to the joint statement from Pakistan and India for the resumption of dialogue, but made it clear that freedom movement would continue at the same pace till something concrete was seen on the ground.

"If they really mean what they have said and the settlement of Kashmir issue in accordance with the wishes of Kashmiris tops the composite dialogue agenda then we can call it an unprecedented breakthrough," remarked Hizb supreme commander Syed Salahuddin. "But, given our 56 years experience with India and the betrayals we have suffered at its hands time and again, we are rightly sceptical of the implementation of any agreement," he told Dawn by telephone.

He said there had been dozens of such announcements and agreements in the past but unfortunately India had never honoured a single of them. The Hizb chief said it was yet to be seen that what interpretation (of the joint statement) the Indians would make back home.

The Indians, he said, had their own meanings of dispute and the mujahideen's line of action depended upon New Delhi's interpretation and behaviour in the dialogue.

Quoting Indian premier Atal Behari Vajpayee as saying that though Kashmir was part of India, yet they would talk on it, the Hizb chief said it was contradiction in terms. He said: "In such a situation, the signing of any agreement can be described merely a paperwork."

He said the mujahideen believed that India wanted to buy time to complete the fencing of the Line of Control on the one hand and crush the freedom struggle in the occupied territory on the other.

Responding a question, he vowed there was no question of dropping guns as long as India accepted the disputed status of Kashmir followed by initiation of serious efforts to settle the problem in consultation with Pakistan and the Kashmiri leadership.

The Hizb chief said: "When India will accept the disputed status of Kashmir; stop killings and atrocities; release all detainees and reduce the number of troops in Kashmir to pre-1988 position with a view to resolve the issue in accordance with the aspirations of Kashmiris, the guns would drop automatically." "Unless that happens, mere signing of a piece of paper (by Indian and Pakistani leaders) cannot convince us to lay down weapons", he added.