Pakistan leader wants talks with India on Kashmir

Musharraf denies sending suicide bombers against India

April 30, 2000
Web posted at: 4:04 p.m. HKT (0804 GMT)

In this story: Bombings symptom of desperation Comments echo Clinton's push for peace RELATED STORIES, SITES

KARACHI, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's leader said Saturday he wants talks with India on the future of the hotly disputed territory of Kashmir.

Military leader Gen. Parvez Musharraf also dismissed claims that his country has sent suicide bombers into India's portion of the disputed territory. India and Pakistan broke off ties last summer after they fought a border war over Kashmir.

For more than 10 years militant Muslims have waged a secessionist insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir, demanding either outright independence or union with Islamic Pakistan.

MESSAGE BOARD India-Pakistan relations

On Saturday as shelling intensified along the line that marks the border between Pakistan and India, Musharraf told CNN's Satinder Bindra that reports of Pakistan sponsoring suicide bomb squads were groundless.

"There is absolutely no truth in this that we are sending any kind of suicide bombers," Musharraf said.

Musharraf, who took control of Pakistan in a bloodless coup last year, said suicide bombings that have occurred were evidence of the desperation felt by Kashmir's people.

"This is an indication of the frustration of the people of Kashmir. Frustrations are rising. Because they have suffered, they have suffered now over ten years and have suffered 70,000 casualties," he said.

Musharraf said he wants to meet India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajapayee for face-to-face talks in a Middle Eastern country.

The top item on the agenda for such a meeting would be the ongoing dispute over Kasmir, the general said.

"We have to solve the Kashmir dispute. We will be very open, very frank, very flexible and very practical very realistic. But it is the Kashmir dispute which we have to address."

The comments of the Pakistani leader come just weeks after U.S. President Bill Clinton pressed Musharraf on the Kashmir issue during a visit to the subcontinent.

Clinton called on Musharraf to ease tensions with India and restrain Islamic militants from moving across a cease-fire that divides Kashmir between the two countries.

Clinton said then that Pakistan must "create conditions that will allowdialogue to succeed" in resolving the Kashmir dispute.

New Delhi Bureau Chief Satinder Bindra contributed to this report.

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