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India has spurned several
'peace proposals': Musharraf

Describing South Asia as the 'most dangerous place on earth', Pakistan President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Thursday told the UN General Assembly (UNGA) that peace in the region is "hostage to one accident, one strategic miscalculation by India."

The Pakistani president also harped on Jammu and Kashmir, the recent violence in Gujarat and the growth of 'Hindu fanaticism' in India.

Accusing India of spurning several 'peace proposals', Musharraf said, "Pakistan will not start a conflict with India, but if a war is thrust upon us, we shall exercise our right to self-defence fully and effectively."

"India's ongoing military build-up reflects its known desire for domination of South Asia and the Indian Ocean. In the interest of regional and global stability, this must be discouraged," he said.

Musharraf claimed that Pakistan has acted with 'restraint and responsibility' despite India's 'provocations and threats over the past year'.

'India's belligerence' was a reflection of the growing influence of Hindu extremist parties and organisation, he claimed. "Rising Hindu fanaticism has targeted Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and even untouchables. Last February, 2,000 Muslims were massacred in Gujarat with the complicity of the BJP government," he alleged.

While Pakistan is waging a 'successful struggle' to restore its 'tradition of a tolerant Islam', Hindu fundamentalism is on the rise in India, he claimed.

Demanding that those responsible for the Gujarat 'massacre' should be made accountable, Musharraf said, "The international community must act to oppose Hindu extremism with the same determination it displayed in combating terrorism, religious bigotry, ethnic cleansing and fascist tendencies elsewhere."

Claiming that the conflict in Kashmir was being waged by Kashmiris and said, "No amount of external assistance could have inspired Kashmiri people to sacrifice the lives of 80,000 of their youth and sustain their struggle against India for decades."

To ensure sustainable peace and stability in South Asia, Musharraf said a solution to the Kashmir problem should be accompanied by an agreement between India and Pakistan on nuclear restraint and other military matters.

To bring peace to the subcontinent, Musharraf proposed withdrawal of forces (of both countries) deployed on the border, observance of a ceasefire along the Line of Control in Kashmir and cessation of 'state-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir'.

Simultaneously, a dialogue must be resumed, he said adding the structure for such a dialogue was already agreed to by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and him in Agra last year.

"The Kashmiris should be fully associated with the dialogue on Kashmir and should be allowed to travel freely to Pakistan and Azad (Pakistan-occupied) Kashmir," he said.

More reports from Pakistan

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