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Union Minister of State for External Affairs Omar Abdullah has said that Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf's statement that freedom to Kashmiris was imminent does not reflect reality, reports in Dubai said.
"The Pakistani president does not know the ground realities," Abdullah, who was visiting Saudi Arabia to oversee Haj arrangements, was quoted as saying by Arab News.
"What is going on there (in Jammu and Kashmir) is not a freedom struggle or a mass supported program as is made out to be but a movement of terror imposed on Kashmiris. It's cross-border terrorism. So the question of freedom being around the corner, as he (Musharraf) puts it, does not arise," Abdullah said.
The minister said Kashmir 'is part of our spirit and soul, and will remain so. For Pakistan, it is just a piece of land'.
"We believe that all issues including Kashmir can be solved bilaterally on the basis of the Simla Accord and Lahore Declaration," the minister said. "The solution lies in a negotiated settlement between the two countries."
Citing steps taken by the two countries after the Agra summit, he said Foreign Secretary Chokila Iyer met her Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation meet in Colombo in August, and Pakistani Commerce Minister Abdul Razzak Dawood was in New Delhi to attend a two-day meeting of SAARC trade ministers.
"All these are indicative of our keen desire to keep the process of dialogue continuing at multiple levels. We do not accept Pakistan's uni-focal approach," Abdullah said.
He said employment generation for Kashmiris was the 'prime need to prevent innocent people from taking up arms'.
"In the meantime, we would divert our energies to contain cross-border terrorism. That's most important at the moment," the minister said.
On the impact of the arrests of workers of jehadi organisations in Pakistan, he said, "The only difference will be that it will be difficult for them to raise money in Pakistan for terrorism in Kashmir."
On the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the minister said: "We've said time and again that in its current form the treaty is not acceptable to us. But at the same time let me add that being a responsible nuclear power we'll not be exporting or selling nuclear technology to any other country."
Indo-Asian news Service
Indo-Pak Summit: Complete Coverage
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