NEW DELHI: India is ready to accept Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s offer of talks on Kashmir provided they were held without pre-conditions, reports PTI.
Reacting to Bhutto’s statement in Islamabad that she was ready to meet Indian premier VP Singh, external affairs minister IK Gujral, said in Rajya Sabha (upper house) that her proposal for a third party verification of troop movement was unacceptable.
“So are the other conditions stipulated by her on surveillance mechanism to check covert and overt support to militants in Punjab and Kashmir and her insistence on outdated U.N. Resolutions,” the external affairs minister said.
Gujral was replying to clarifications on his statement regarding his recent talks with his Pakistani counterpart Sahabzada Yaqub Khan in New York.
The external affairs minister warned Pakistan to abandon its “policy of brinkmanship before it was overtaken by events.” He said the present confrontationist policy of Pakistan also posed a danger to democratic process in that country.
Gujral reiterated that India would never compromise on its territorial integrity or tolerate any infringement on its sovereignty. He said Pakistan was hoping to “gain” by fomenting insurgency in Kashmir and Punjab but warned that it should be aware that India was ready to foil any designs.
On progress of the extradition proceedings sought by India against JKLF chairman Amanullah Khan, Gujral said an earlier request seeking his arrest had been rejected by U.S. authorities terming the evidence as insufficient.
However, he said India had now sought his detention in U.S. itself pending extradition by providing comprehensive evidence of his involvement in terrorist activities in J and K,
Gujral said government was aware of press reports that Amanullah had slipped out of USA to Pakistan and was trying to verify them. He also referred to fresh evidence that had cropped up confirming that Pakistan was directly aiding and abetting the freedom fighters and Kashmir and Punjab.
In this connection he referred to international media reports and television interviews of Kashmir militants aired by BBC and other newsmagazines and papers and said this should leave none in doubt that Pakistan was involved in subversion
To a question whether India would attack the training camps in Pakistan, Gujral just said appropriate steps would be taken to safeguard the territorial integrity of the country. He confirmed that the government had information of links between the Kashmir militant groups and the Afghan Mujahedeen groups.
Gujral said there had been reports that some Kashmiri groups had even taken part in fighting inside Afghanistan and the government was closely monitoring these events.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 11, 1990
