ISLAMABAD, Jan 7: Serious differences seem to have surfaced between the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the two component parties of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) , following their respective responses to the Musharraf-Vajpayee joint statement.

The PPP has welcomed the statement while the PML-N has rejected it. Speaking at a news conference here on Tuesday, PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq accused the Musharraf regime of taking a U-turn on the Kashmir issue and neglecting the people of Kashmir in its efforts to normalize relations with India.

The PML-N chairman said the joint statement, issued after a meeting between Gen Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, proved that the Pakistan government had deviated from the Kashmir cause.

He said the joint statement was the first document in the past 56 years that did not mention UN resolutions on Kashmir. He said that in the earlier three bilateral agreements - the Simla Agreement, Tashkent Accord and Lahore Declaration - it was always mentioned that the Kashmir issue should be resolved through the UN resolutions that stipulated the right of self-determination to the people of Kashmir.

On the other hand, welcoming the continuation of the peace process between Pakistan and India, PPP senator Farhatullah Babar termed it a "continuation of the Simla Agreement of 1972."

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mr Babar said the PPP saw it as "essential for the socio-economic uplift of one-fifth of mankind living in the region, two-third of whom lived below the poverty line."

In contrast, Raja Zafarul Haq said the joint statement only mentioned Azad Kashmir and not Jammu and Kashmir. There was no mention of the people of Kashmir in the statement either, he said.

The PML-N leader expressed the fear that the additional protocol signed at the Saarc Summit regarding elimination of terrorism would be used against freedom-fighters in Kashmir. The only reservation expressed by the PPP was that the joint statement was agreed between an army chief and an elected prime minister.

AFP adds: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) also dismissed the agreement as "one-sided". "Pakistan is sidelining the UN resolution on Kashmir," said Hafiz Hussain Ahmed.