LoC opening
Islamabad awaits response, Delhi stresses official channels
DM Monitoring

ISLAMABAD—Foreign Office Spokesperson, Tasneem Aslam has said that India has not yet responded to the proposal of President General Pervez Musharraf regarding easing of Kashmiris’ movement across the Line of Control.
Pakistan is still staying with its proposal and a formal document would soon be handed over to India in this connection, the FO Spokesperson told a private television channel in an interview telecast Friday.
Responding to a question about the statement of General Farooq she said, Pakistan after providing the mobile telephone facilities to Azad Jammu and Kashmir had also given a formal proposal to India for the extension of this facility on the other side of Line of Control.
According to feed back the Indians were of the opinion that in the presence of satellite phone service, there was no need for such facility she said adding, nothing formally has so far been conveyed by India on this topic.
Most probably, General Farooq was referring to this issue, she said.
She confirmed that Pakistan was in fact formalizing the proposal of President General Pervez Musharraf to formally communicate it to India.
Agencies add: India has said that it has not received any proposal from Pakistan on President Pervez Musharraf’s offer of free movement across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir and any action can be initiated only when it receives a formal proposal.
“We have not received any official proposal from Islamabad to this effect,” Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee told newsmen on the sidelines of the Naval Commanders’ conference here.
“Only when we receive the offer at official level, we can initiate any action,” he said.
On the recent agreement with France on building of six Scorpene submarines under technology transfer, Mukherjee said this would give a strategic boost to the country by reopening underwater vessel manufacturing capability within the country.
On the Navy’s 20-year Perspective Plan to boost submarine strength to 24, the Minister said India would take a decision at an appropriate time on the offers of building other submarines.