Vajpayee again asks Pakistan to 'vacate' Kashmir
source: News International
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Sunday reiterated New Delhi's latest demand that talks with Pakistan would hinge on an end to Islamabad's control of parts of divided Kashmir.
the Indian prime minister was quoted as saying at an election rally in Panipat, a town which adjoins New Delhi.
Vajpayee told his supporters in Panipat.
Vajpayee also asserted Pakistan had been "defeated both in battle and diplomacy" during a full-scale military conflict that erupted in Kashmir's Kargil zone three months after Vajpyee's Lahore trip, in February last year. "Pakistan does not seem to have learned the lessons from the conflict," Vajpayee said.
Vajpayee's demand, the second in two days, is so far the most stringent Indian pre-condition for the restoration of peace talks, which broke down last May during the Kargil battle.
Meanwhile, Atal Behari Vajpayee accused Pakistan of derailing the peace process initiated one year ago, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said. Vajpayee's remarks came a day after Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar proposed to India that the peace process be re-launched. PTI did not indicate that Vajpayee referred in his remarks to Sattar's proposal and it was not immediately clear if the Indian prime minister was rejecting the idea. There has been no other Indian reaction yet to the Pakistani bid to re-launch talks.
In an interview with Reuters Television on the eve of the first anniversary of the summit between Pakistan and India, Sattar urged India to implement commitments which Pakistan says New Delhi made in the Lahore Declaration. The minister said Pervaiz Musharraf's government would join the process honestly and sincerely.
PTI quoted Vajpayee as saying at the Haryana election rally on Sunday that Pakistan had "dashed the hand of friendship when exactly this day a year ago the bus journey was undertaken". PTI quoted the Indian prime minister as saying that Pakistan had sowed the seeds of distrust and suspicion by intruding Kargil.
source: News International
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Sunday reiterated New Delhi's latest demand that talks with Pakistan would hinge on an end to Islamabad's control of parts of divided Kashmir.
"The only agenda for talks on Kashmir with Pakistan will be the return of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) to India,"
"Pakistan says Kashmir is the main issue. We say talks with Pakistan can take place only when Pakistan vacates Kashmir as the people of Jammu and Kashmir have always been with India,"
Vajpayee also asserted Pakistan had been "defeated both in battle and diplomacy" during a full-scale military conflict that erupted in Kashmir's Kargil zone three months after Vajpyee's Lahore trip, in February last year. "Pakistan does not seem to have learned the lessons from the conflict," Vajpayee said.
Vajpayee's demand, the second in two days, is so far the most stringent Indian pre-condition for the restoration of peace talks, which broke down last May during the Kargil battle.
Meanwhile, Atal Behari Vajpayee accused Pakistan of derailing the peace process initiated one year ago, the Press Trust of India (PTI) said. Vajpayee's remarks came a day after Pakistan Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar proposed to India that the peace process be re-launched. PTI did not indicate that Vajpayee referred in his remarks to Sattar's proposal and it was not immediately clear if the Indian prime minister was rejecting the idea. There has been no other Indian reaction yet to the Pakistani bid to re-launch talks.
In an interview with Reuters Television on the eve of the first anniversary of the summit between Pakistan and India, Sattar urged India to implement commitments which Pakistan says New Delhi made in the Lahore Declaration. The minister said Pervaiz Musharraf's government would join the process honestly and sincerely.
PTI quoted Vajpayee as saying at the Haryana election rally on Sunday that Pakistan had "dashed the hand of friendship when exactly this day a year ago the bus journey was undertaken". PTI quoted the Indian prime minister as saying that Pakistan had sowed the seeds of distrust and suspicion by intruding Kargil.
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