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Pak must create proper environment for talks: Panja

The government today reiterated that it is for Pakistan to create a proper environment for resumption of a meaningful dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad.

Minister of State for External Affairs Ajit Panja said in the Lok Sabha in reply to a question, that in the post-Kargil period and after the coup in that country, Pakistan had enhanced its sponsorship of and support to cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in India.

Pakistan had continued to indulge in unprovoked firing across the Line of Control.

Its call for jehad and other hostile propaganda against India had also continued unabated. Recently, Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf was also reported to have said that he did not believe in either the Simla agreement or the Lahore Declaration.

Panja said the government was committed to resolving all outstanding issues with Pakistan through bilateral discussions as envisaged in the Simla agreement and Lahore Declaration.

He said that, after the Kargil intrusion and adverse comments in US circles on the armed intrusion, there was an attempt to seek the support of members of the US Congress for the appointment of a special envoy for Kashmir.

However, the Bill Clinton administration had rejected the proposal and, during his visit to India, the US president had also stated that his country would not mediate on Kashmir.

Even the European Parliament had not appointed a monitoring team on Jammu and Kashmir. However, there is a fringe group of a few members of the European Parliament which meets privately to discuss the issues. The group has no official status.

The minister said the government would continue to follow these and related developments in the European Parliament.

UNI

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