Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf accused India of "state terrorism" in Kashmir on Tuesday, blaming massive human rights abuses for the decade-long insurgency there.

Musharraf marked Kashmir Solidarity Day, a national holiday in Pakistan, with another appeal for talks with India to resolve the Kashmir dispute, which has twice brought the neighbours to war and lies behind the huge buildup of troops along their border. "If the people of Kashmir have been forced to take up arms against Indian occupation forces during the past decade or so, it is India which is to be blamed for this," Musharraf said.
"No self-respecting people can be expected to remain unmoved while their families and friends are being killed, tortured and gang-raped, their houses burnt down... and humiliation of the worst kind heaped upon them through the instrument of state terrorism," he said in a statement.
"No people can be kept in perpetual bondage against their will," Musharraf said. "The sooner India realises it, the better it will be for everyone."
Kashmir Solidarity Day has been marked with banners in Islamabad decrying "Indian Inhumanity in Kashmir" and with gory pictures on state television showing civilians purportedly murdered by the Indian army in Kashmir.
Tensions between nuclear-capable Pakistan and India have surged in the wake of a bloody attack on the Indian parliament on December 13 which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militant groups fighting is rule in Kashmir. Bureau Report