Periscope on Pakistan

Periscope on Pakistan

All the faults not of Pak's making

THE NATION: In an unprecedented show of solidarity with the freedom struggle in Kashmir, the whole of Pakistan demonstrated its resolve to support the movement for the liberation of Kashmir...Chief Executive (CE) General Pervez Musharraf himself flew to Muzaffarabad in a symbolic gesture of his presence on Kashmiri soil...He also addressed a press conference in which, among other things, he again invited India for talks to resolve the Kashmir issue which. India promptly rejected the invitation the same day, saying Pakistan had to cease `cross-border terrorism' and end `propaganda against India', first. For some reason the Indian spokesman did not choose to mention its other pre-condition of Pakistan reverting to civilian rule.

It is also strange that the pre-condition of ending `propaganda against India' has been added to the list of pre-conditions for talks, while it is India which is knocking every door in the world to have Pakistan declared a terroriststate. Is it Pakistan's fault that all neutral observers who visit the Indian-occupied Kashmir, chronicle the miserable plight of the Kashmiris at the hands of Indian Army...And is it Pakistan's fault that the relatively unbiased Indians themselves, have repeatedly been pointing out the alienation of Kashmiri Muslims from India. And is it Pakistan's fault that no one outside India accepts Kashmir as its internal problem...Even in the US, where there is a strong Indian lobby, some legislators have started casting away the blinkers which India's long-abandoned Gandhian philosophy had placed on their eyes.