Indian Premier welcomes President’s Kashmir proposal

NEW DELHI—Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has welcomed a proposal made earlier this month by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to settle the Kashmir dispute, an Indian official said on Saturday.
Musharraf repeated a proposal of a phased plan to solve the decades-old Kashmir dispute, in which he said Pakistan would abandon its claim to the region if India agreed to give the territory autonomy under joint supervision by both countries.
“When asked about the proposal, the prime minister said any effort in the direction of normalisation of Indo-Pak relations is welcome,” said an official, who was with Singh when he made the comments to journalists on board his plane returning to India after a visit to Japan.
The official, who declined to be identified, quoted Singh as saying he had accepted an invitation to visit Pakistan next year. Musharraf wants Pakistan and India to focus on the parts of the former princely state of Kashmir that are genuinely disputed by both sides. For example, Pakistan might give up any claim to the mainly Hindu areas, if India renounced its claim to the overwhelmingly Muslim areas. This would leave a majority Muslim region centred on the Kashmir Valley, most of which is now under Indian control but a part of which is ruled by Pakistan.
The valley is also the centre of a 17-year-old insurgency against Indian rule which New Delhi accuses Islamabad of backing. The two sides would then soften the border dividing Kashmir until it became “irrelevant”, so that people and goods could move freely. A phased demilitarisation would follow on both sides of the current line of control dividing Kashmir. Autonomy or self-government would then be offered to Kashmiris, under the joint supervision of the two countries.—Agencies
Online adds: Even though infiltration is down, Pakistan must stop supporting terrorism if peace is to return to Jammu and Kashmir, Defence Minister AK Antony said on Saturday.
He also maintained there would no delays in the way of the armed forces procuring the “most modern” equipment. The government was also working toward improving the living and working conditions of soldiers posted in difficult areas, as also addressing the psychological problems of the troops in the wake of a large number of suicides, he said.
Antony was addressing a press conference here, his first since assuming office, on the sidelines of a function to observe Vijay Diwas, an annual celebration of the largest surrender in history after World War II.
Speaking about Kashmir at the press conference, Antony said: “Of late, infiltration is down but there is no room for complacency. Pakistan is giving support (to terror groups) and unless Pakistan takes a decision to stop this, we have to be on the alert.
“The army is alert. Our brave soldiers are risking their lives in difficult conditions. Seeing the dedication and sacrifices of the soldiers, I am convinced that they need better facilities. We are working towards this,” the minister maintained.
Asked about some long-pending defence purchases, Antony refused to commit himself to a time-frame but said the armed forces would get the “most modern equipment to enable them meet the challenges”. According to him, the new procedures put in place for defence purchases “would ensure reforms with transparency, but this does not mean there will be delays” in procurements.