ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Islamweb & Agencies) - Pakistan's president said that his offer of a peace pact with India did not include the fighting by the Muslim Resistance in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, a local news agency, the privately owned News Network International, reported Saturday.
The decades old-dispute over Kashmir, where tens of thousands of people have died in fighting, will be the centerpiece of a July 14-16 summit between Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
In Friday's interview with NNI, Musharraf said Pakistan provided ``diplomatic and moral'' support for Kashmir's predominantly Muslim population, but was not the force behind Islamic Resistance fighting for independence from Hindu-dominated India.
India claims that the Resistance are sponsored by Pakistan, which in turn accuses the Indians of human rights violations in Kashmir. The two countries have fought two wars over the province.
India has dismissed Musharraf's offer of a pact to prevent war.
Rao suggested that in the Shimla accord, which both countries signed in 1972, India and Pakistan had already ``resolved to settle differences by peaceful means and through bilateral negotiations.''
At their forthcoming summit in India, both sides say they are committed to seeking a solution over Kashmir. But in recent days the rhetoric on both sides has grown harsher, showing how divided the two countries still are over the issue.
On Friday, Pakistan repeated accusations of human rights abuses in Kashmir by India, which criticized Musharraf's plan to meet with the main Resistance group in Kashmir during his visit.
India said Friday that Vajpayee had ordered the army's chief of military operations to visit Pakistan soon to discuss peace efforts on the Kashmir border, confidence-building measures on nuclear weapons and other security-related issues.
Both countries tested nuclear weapons in 1998. Kashmir is considered to be one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints and the most likely scenario for a nuclear war.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf speaks during an exclusive interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, July 4, 2001, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Better relations between India and Pakistan are impossible without first resolving the dispute over Kashmir, the Himalayan region considered one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints, Musharraf said.(AP Photo/Tariq Aziz)