Beijing, Nov 02: Amid fresh peace bid, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today raked up the Kashmir issue at a regional economic forum with his oft-repeated rhetoric comparing the problem with the Palestine imbroglio. "Macro economic scenarios cannot be divorced from political realities in different parts of the world. Of utmost concern is the globalisation of terror, unresolved crises in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Korean peninsula as well as the long-standing conflict of occupation of Palestine and Kashmir," Musharraf said in his keynote address at the plenary session of the second annual meeting of BFA which opened in Boao city in south China's island province of Hainan. Addressing an August audience that included Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Musharraf, attired in a dark suit, said the "demonisation" of Islam and the widening of the perceptional gap between Muslim countries and the west have also contributed to "regressive economic trends".

India is being represented at the BFA by former Prime Minister I K Gujral and Indian ambassador to China Nalin Surie. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is also participating in a big way.

Bureau Report