Islamabad, June 29: Describing Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a "man of peace", Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today said he hoped the "flexibility" India had shown on Tibet during the Indian leader's recent China visit happened in the case of Kashmir also. "The flexibility India has shown on Tibet is a welcome sign. One can only hope it happens in the case of Kashmir too," Musharraf said during his visit to Los Angeles in an interview aired by Pakistan's private television.
In the joint declaration signed by Vajpayee and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao earlier this week, India agreed that the Tibetan autonomous region was part of the territory of the People's Republic of China.
But Vajpayee clarified on Friday that the statement laid emphasis on Tibet being an autonomous region, and maintained that there was no ambiguity or inconsistency in India's position on Tibet, and that the joint declaration between the two countries only contained "in a better way" India's consistent stand on the question.
Replying to a question on India's stand on Tibet, Musharraf told the TV channel that "at Agra, Vajpayee and me had agreed that there could be no peace in the sub-continent without solution of Kashmir. I believe the Indian Prime Minister is a man of peace."
About remarks made by External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha rejecting his proposal for a Middle East type of "roadmap" on Kashmir with a mediation from a third party, Musharraf said India has been rejecting third party mediation.
"I have given my four point formula of step by step approach. Till India and Pakistan are not sincere in finding a solution to Kashmir, there could be no momentum. Of course Kashmiris have to be involved in any eventual solution,” he said.
Addressing a meeting in Los Angeles, Musharraf claimed India is buying weapons from "all round the world" and it should be stopped.
Ruling out a war with India, he said there should be strategic balance in the South Asian region.
He also had a meeting with American think tank Rand Corporation today. Bureau Report