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PM to `retire` if current peace initiative fails
Berlin, May 28: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has said he will `retire` if his third and last peace initiative with Pakistan fails, even as he reiterated his willingness to negotiate with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to resolve the Kashmir issue.
Berlin, May 28: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has said he will "retire" if his third and last peace initiative with Pakistan fails, even as he reiterated his willingness to negotiate with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to resolve the Kashmir issue.
Asked by the interviewer of a widely-circulated German daily as to what happens if his stated last peace initiative failed, he shot back, "Then I have to accept my defeat, then I retire."
"It is never intelligent to get involved in predictions in these issues," Vajpayee said when reminded that he was 78 and asked if he would contest parliamentary elections due next year.
The PM said he is prepared to negotiate with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf since the resolution of the Kashmir problem would require "serious compromises". "I am prepared to negotiate with him," Vajpayee, who is on a two-day visit here, said when asked if he considered Musharraf "trustworthy."
Welcoming the restriction imposed by Pakistan on militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, Vajpayee said, "Other steps will have to follow."
"Just now Pakistan seems to have prohibited the most radical group of Mujahideen, who operated in Kashmir. If this is the case and has real consequences, I can only welcome this step. Others have to follow, however," he said.
Asked if he was concentrating in achieving improvement in everyday life together with Pakistan like in trade relations, transport, and cultural exchanges and that the most important question of the Kashmir issue was not answered this way, Vajpayee said after all the years of tensions and mutual distrust the views about the other have hardened. "The solution of the Kashmir problem will, however, demand serious compromises, for that we have to build confidence first. This includes better economic co-operation and the chances of people from both the countries to meet.
"If Indians and Paksitanis understand that living together peacefully brings advantages, they will be much more willing than today to find creative solutions for the complicated central problem," he said. Bureau Report
"It is never intelligent to get involved in predictions in these issues," Vajpayee said when reminded that he was 78 and asked if he would contest parliamentary elections due next year.
The PM said he is prepared to negotiate with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf since the resolution of the Kashmir problem would require "serious compromises". "I am prepared to negotiate with him," Vajpayee, who is on a two-day visit here, said when asked if he considered Musharraf "trustworthy."
Welcoming the restriction imposed by Pakistan on militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, Vajpayee said, "Other steps will have to follow."
"Just now Pakistan seems to have prohibited the most radical group of Mujahideen, who operated in Kashmir. If this is the case and has real consequences, I can only welcome this step. Others have to follow, however," he said.
Asked if he was concentrating in achieving improvement in everyday life together with Pakistan like in trade relations, transport, and cultural exchanges and that the most important question of the Kashmir issue was not answered this way, Vajpayee said after all the years of tensions and mutual distrust the views about the other have hardened. "The solution of the Kashmir problem will, however, demand serious compromises, for that we have to build confidence first. This includes better economic co-operation and the chances of people from both the countries to meet.
"If Indians and Paksitanis understand that living together peacefully brings advantages, they will be much more willing than today to find creative solutions for the complicated central problem," he said. Bureau Report