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Journalism of Courage
Expressing ‘‘deep disappointment’’ over comments made by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on Kargil, New Delhi tonight said this was ‘‘most distressing’’ as it implied ‘‘military adventurism of that nature is a legitimate instrument for furthering Pakistan’s designs on Jammu and Kashmir’’.
‘‘How can a peace initiative go forward in the face of such a signal of non-peaceful intent?’’ the Ministry of External Affairs remarked, reacting to Musharraf’s interview to NDTV which was beamed this evening.
Urging Islamabad to accept ground realities on Kashmir and show ‘‘restraint and maturity’’ in addressing sensitive issues in bilateral relations, New Delhi said it will continue to judge the Pakistani leadership on the basis of specific steps it takes to end cross-border infiltration and dismantle the infrastructure that supports terrorism in India.
Pointing out that the success of democracy taking root in Kashmir has been accepted universally, New Delhi described as ‘‘unfortunate’’ Musharraf’s dismissal of last year’s elections in the state.
Urging Pakistan to shed its mindset of compulsive hostility, New Delhi pledged to take forward Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee’s recent peace initiative ‘‘which have also found a tremendous resonance amongst the people and civil society in Pakistan’’.
Rejecting Musharraf’s claim that ‘‘Kashmir is the core issue,’’ India pointed out that an attempt to ‘‘expand economic and cultural cooperation and people-to-people contact’’ was central to ‘‘generate an atmosphere of understanding, trust and confidence.’’
India also underlined the importance of first steps that ‘‘have been taken’’ and ‘‘need to be carefully nurtured and built upon through further action in ending infiltration and terrorism so that the two countries can move towards dialogue’’.
