Solve Kashmir first, Sharief tells India
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief has
virutally rejected the Indian offer of a ''no-first use'' agreement,
saying that the Kashmir issue must be resolved first.
In an interview to a weekly Indian news magazine, Sharief said
only a solution to Kashmir could lead to permanent peace in South
Asia. ''The Indian leadership must understand that it is Kashmir
which needs to be addressed first,'' he added.
Asked whether Pakistan would weaponise its nuclear capability, he
said if the core issue of Kashmir could be solved, ''there will be no
need for weaponisation or deployment."
Answering a question about his willingness to talk about trade
first, and Kashmir later, Sharief said: ''Trade without trust
means nothing. It would be a very temporary affair. If you want to
make it permanent, we have to address the root cause first and
Kashmir remains the root cause.''
When told that technically Pakistan had to respond to the Dhaka
proposals for resuming the India-Pakistan dialogue, he said, "We both have to move and if India wants Pakistan to act
first, we will act first, so what?''
Meanwhile, pinched by sanctions for his nuclear
ambitions, Sharief was heading to Saudi Arabia
and the Gulf today to ensure oil keeps flowing to Pakistan.
Speaking to a joint session of parliament before his scheduled
departure, Sharief justified his decision to follow India in
testing nuclear devices, saying Pakistan had taken its future in its
own hands.
"The future of every Pakistani is now secure,'' he said. He
said Pakistan was forced to go nuclear when the international
community failed to tackle what he called India's aggressive
posture.
He repeated that Pakistan's moves were defensive. "We do not intend
to wipe out anyone from the face of the earth,'' he said.
Officials said Sharief's mission to Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates was aimed at securing the concessional credit needed
to maintain oil imports. Pakistan bought 1.2 billion dollars of
petroleum products over nine months up to March.
Islamabad expects to be squeezed by sanctions that will cut off
financing for some aid projects through the International Monetary
Fund, and by a lowering of its credit rating that will make
commercial borrowing more expensive.
In India, Prime Minister A B Vajpayee today
reiterated that there was no need for a third party mediation on the
Kashmir issue.
''We can solve our problems ourselves (with Pakistan),'' he said
while inaugurating the two-day training camp of first-timer BJP MPs in Haryana.
Vajpayee said there was ''no tension'' along the Line of
Control following the nuclear tests carried out by India at Pokhran
recently.
UNI
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