India cautious over Kashmir demilitarization offer
From Meerza Iqbal Baig

NEW DELHI—India has reacted cautiously to President Pervez Musharraf’s suggestion of demilitarising both sides of Kashmir, asserting that it can’t be done “unilaterally”. “It can’t be done unilaterally,” External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh told reporters at the Rashtrapati Bhavan after the swearing-in of new Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal, reported PTI.
“After all, they (Pakistan) are in occupation of our areas,” he said when asked about Musharraf’s proposal of demilitarising the region to provide comfort to earthquake affected people on both sides of the Line of Control.
Singh also had a word of advice for Musharraf. “Over- verbalising doesn’t help. Every second day there is a statement from that side,” he contended.
The Minister made it clear that he has to study the Pakistan President’s comments and the context in which it was made before offering any definite views.
Asked about Musharraf’s proposal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said “I am not commenting on anything today”.
Taking a tough line, the Prime Minister had last night forthrightly told Musharraf that there were “external linkages” of terrorists involved in Satruday’s blasts here and asked him to act against terrorism directed against India.
India responded cautiously to Pakistan’s suggestion that the rivals demilitarise disputed Kashmir to speed up relief efforts after last month’s quake which claimed 58,000 lives, saying the step could not be taken unilaterally. “It (the demilitarisation) can’t be done unilaterally,” Foreign Minister Natwar Singh told reporters in New Delhi, the Press Trust of India reported on Tuesday.
“After all, they (Pakistan) are in occupation of our areas,” he said referring to India’s claim over all of the Himalayan region of Kashmir — the root cause of tension between the nuclear-armed rivals. Singh was responding to President Pervez Musharraf’s remarks to Saudi newspaper Arab News at the weekend in which he said he was “for demilitarisation (in Kashmir). “If they (India) agree to that, we will too,” Musharraf’s spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan quoted him as saying.
The Minister made it clear that he has to study the Pakistan president’s comments and the context in which they were made before offering any definite views. “Over-verbalising doesn’t help. Every second day there is a statement from that side,” he added, referring to Pakistan.
Late Monday Indian Prime Minister Singh indicated the possibility of Pakistan based militant group’s involvement in Saturday’s bomb blasts in New Delhi that claimed 62 lives. “We continue to be disturbed and dismayed at indications of the external linkages of terrorist groups with the October 29 bombing,” Singh said in a telephone call initiated by Musharraf.
“India expects Pakistan to act against terrorism directed at India,” Singh told Musharraf during their 10-minute telephone conversation, a foreign office statement said. India and Pakistan — who have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir — signed a deal early Sunday to open five crossings on the Himalayan region’s de facto border from November 7 to aid quake survivors.
It came after Musharraf proposed the opening of the heavily militarized Line of Control around a week and a half after the October 8 quake. India was slow to respond to the officer as it fears Islamic rebels battling its rule in Indian Kashmir would use the opportunity to cross into the Indian-administered zone. Pakistan and India launched a slow-moving peace process in January 2004 but groups opposed to the peace moves came under suspicion after Saturday’s triple blasts in New Delhi.