Pakistan says it is ready for talks with India

Musharraf

September 7, 2000
Web posted at: 10:25 AM HKT (0225 GMT)

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf, in his first appearance at the United Nations on Wednesday, offered talks with India "at any level, at any time and anywhere" and said the U.N. Security Council must summon the political will to resolve the long dispute over Kashmir.

Musharraf, who ousted elected prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a military coup last October, also defended the coup and called for international action to stop corrupt rulers hiding their plundered wealth in secret bank accounts.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will be in the United States from Friday but he is not expected to meet Musharraf. India says talks with Pakistan depend on peace in Kashmir, where it is trying to quell a decade-old revolt by militants seeking independence or union with Pakistan.

But Musharraf said: "Pakistan ... is prepared to take bold initiatives to change the status quo through a dialogue with India at any level, at any time and anywhere."

"We desire a no-war pact. We are ready for a mutual reduction of forces, and we also seek a South Asia free from all nuclear weapons," he added.

India and Pakistan both tested nuclear devices in 1998, raising the stakes in a conflict which has led to four wars.

Pakistan says Kashmir was the root cause of tension and must be resolved by giving the Kashmiris self-determination.

"When one party to a dispute is intransigent in rejecting the use of peaceful means, the Security Council is empowered to act. The problem lies not in the (U.N.) Charter but in the lack of political will," Musharraf said.

In 1948 the United Nations passed a resolution seeking a plebiscite on whether Kashmir should join India or Pakistan. India says the resolution is no longer valid.

"Until we produce that will, all talk of crisis prevention and dispute resolution will ring hollow," Musharraf added.

The Pakistani leader, who has taken the title of Chief Executive, said that in his country, implicitly under Sharif, "autocracy in the garb of democracy led to dishonest governance and the collapse of institutions."

"A particular dark aspect of the misrule damaging democracy in Pakistan has been corruption," he added. A Pakistani court has sentenced Sharif to 14 years jail for corruption.

Musharraf said corruption was a transnational crime and the United Nations should ban transfers of ill-gotten wealth and demand cooperation in tracing missing funds.

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