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India will respond positively to cease-fire call: Pakistan

IRNA

Islamabad, Nov 24, IRNA -- Pakistan on Monday expressed the belief 
that India would respond positively to Islamabad`s unilateral 
cease-fire announcement on the Line of Control (LoC). 
"India will welcome Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali`s 
announcement and respond positively," the Foreign Office Spokesman 
Masood Ahmed Khan told a weekly press briefing here. 
The announcement to observe cease-fire from Eid Fitr, he pointed 
out, was made because in the past, India had been always rejecting 
such initiatives. 
"The Prime Minister`s cease-fire announcement has been dispatched 
to the Indian High Commission and hopefully India will respond some 
time today," he added. 
Premier Jamali, in his address to the nation on radio and 
television on Sunday, announced that Pakistani forces would be 
observing cease-fire from Eid day along the LoC, which divides both 
parts of Kashmir, one under Pakistan and the other administered by 
India. 
The spokesman expressed the hope that India would react to 
Jamali`s announcement in a positive manner, as otherwise the entire 
process would be one-sided. "There will be no delay from our side if 
New Delhi responded positively," he added. 
Masood Khan said that Pakistan had always abode by the UN 
resolutions about deployment of forces along LoC, saying "India never 
adhered to them". 
The spokesman proposed that the Indian ministers, issuing 
"hostile statements" should at least stop doing that till the SAARC 
summit. 
The summit will be held in Islamabad in January. It was postponed 
early this year because India would not confirm its participation. 
However, this time Indian leaders have said on a number of occasions 
that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will be attending the summit.
Analysts here believed that the summit would ultimately lead to 
resumption of dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi over Kashmir 
and other issues. 
Since their creation, both countries have fought three wars, two 
over Kashmir, a disputed territory between the two nuclear-armed 
neighbors. 
But as per SAARC charter, bilateral issues could not be taken up. 
SAARC formed in the 80s, besides Pakistan and India, groups 
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives. 
About the reported bugging of Pakistan`s High Commission in 
London, the spokesman stated that so far Islamabad had not received 
any response from the British government about its position on the 
matter. 
In recent weeks, media reports said that bugging equipment 
was installed inside the Pakistani High Commission during its 
renovation in 2001. However, so far the British government is 
tight-lipped on the issue. 
The spokesman described the issue of bugging as an irritant in 
Pakistan-Britain relations and hoped this would be resolved 
soon. 
He said Pakistan will consider "necessary steps" if it did not 
get a response from the United Kingdom on the reports of bugging of 
its High Commission in London. "The issue cannot be swept under 
the carpet." 
Khan said, an inter-agency team is conducting investigation to 
determine what happened at the High Commission. 
MHA/TSH/212 
End