Pakistan rejects Vajpayee's stance on Kashmir

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, November 17, 2003

Pakistan rejects Vajpayee's stance on Kashmir

Pakistan has rejected India's stance on Kashmir and made it clear that it is ready to hold talks with New Delhi in the light of the Simla agreement, local English newspaper The News reported Monday.

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Pakistan has rejected India's stance on Kashmir and made it clear that it is ready to hold talks with New Delhi in the light of the Simla agreement, local English newspaper The News reported Monday.

It was reported that Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee said Sundayin Damascus while visiting Syria that the Kashmir issue has to be solved bilaterally under the Simla agreement and the Lahore Declaration, but not according to the UN resolutions adopted five decades ago.

"The UN Security Council dealt with this matter over five decades ago. Since then the political, economic, social and demographic realities have changed beyond recognition," Vajpayee said.

Expressing objection to these remarks, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said later Sunday in an interview with a local independent news agency that the non-acceptance of the UN resolutions by one party does not render them redundant and that Pakistan has always shown its readiness for implementation of the resolutions.

It is India that has been dilly-dallying on this matter and theSimla agreement also does not negate these resolutions, the spokesman added.

He alleged that India has been putting the Kashmir issue on a back burner on one pretext or another and said that Pakistan is ready to resume talks with India to settle the Kashmir dispute under the Simla agreement.

The spokesman reiterated that the Kashmir issue can be resolvedif India stops "state terrorism" in Kashmir and initiates a political process as per the will of the Kashmiri people.

India and Pakistan have fought two major wars over Kashmir since the partition in 1947 and the two neighbors signed the Simlaagreement and the Lahore Declaration respectively in early 1970s and in 1999.

According to the agreements, India and Pakistan agreed to solvebilaterally all their outstanding issues including the Kashmir issue.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

Source: Xinhua News Agency

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