Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=07/12/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-278154

TITLE=INDIA / PAKISTAN / SUMMIT (L)

BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE

DATELINE=NEW DELHI

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: India says it will discuss the disputed territory of Kashmir when the leaders of India and Pakistan meet at a summit in India in a few days time. V-O-A's Jim Teeple reports from New Delhi, India says it will also focus on what it calls "cross-border terrorism" in Kashmir, and does not have any "set proposal" to resolve the 50-year-old dispute.

TEXT: Jaswant Singh, who is both India's foreign and defense minister, says Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will have no hesitation about discussing the issue of Kashmir when he sits down with Pakistan's

president, General Pervez Musharraf.

/// SINGH ACTUALITY ///

As in earlier years, on several earlier occasions, India has not ever felt shy about engaging and talking to Pakistan about Jammu and Kashmir. Similarly, on this occasion, too, we have no difficulty about talking on Jammu and Kashmir, but we do not have any set proposal on Jammu and Kashmir as such.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

India and Pakistan both claim the territory of Kashmir in its entirety. Two of the three wars India and Pakistan have fought have been over Kashmir. In recent days, Pakistan's president, General Musharraf, has said that the issue of how to resolve the Kashmir dispute should be the "core issue" at the summit. Mr. Singh says India's concerns will focus on what he calls "cross-border terrorism" in Kashmir.

/// SINGH ACTUALITY ///

This is very much an issue, cross border terrorism the promotion of terrorism. And the infliction of this upon India is a continuing concern. There is no way that this concern has in any fashion been diluted, or will not find prominence in what we have to say.

/// END ACTUALITY ///

A separatist insurgency in India's state of Jammu and Kashmir has claimed more than 35-thousand lives since 1989. Mr. Singh ruled out any summit discussions on a possible referendum for the disputed territory,

saying Kashmir lies at the core of Indian nationalism. Pakistan and Kashmir separatists have long called for the implementation of a 1948 U-N resolution that says a plebiscite should be held to determine the territory's future.

Mr. Singh says India will push for what he calls a "composite dialogue" on a wide range of issues with Pakistan, including measures to prevent a nuclear accident, proposals on trade and commerce, and the possible de-militarization of the Siachan Glacier, where both countries have armies facing each other at six-thousand meters (20-thousand feet).

Mr. Singh also says he hopes the summit will lead to an improved atmosphere between the two countries, saying if India and Pakistan can learn to live together as neighbors, it will be a "good thing." (Signed)

NEB/JLT/TDW