DATE=6/19/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=PAKISTAN/INDIA/KASHMIR (L-O)
NUMBER=2-263524
BYLINE=AYAZ GUL
DATELINE=ISLAMABAD
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Pakistan is rejecting Indian allegations that
thousands of Muslim militants are preparing to cross
into Indian-controlled Kashmir from Pakistani
territory. As Ayaz Gul reports from Islamabad, a
Pakistan military spokesman also denies his country is
supporting separatist Muslim movements in Indian
Kashmir.
TEXT: The Pakistan army spokesman, Major General
Rashid Quereshi, calls the Indian allegations -
rubbish. Mr. Quereshi tells V-O-A the move is part of
- as he puts- India's propaganda campaign to portray
the 11-year old uprising in Indian Kashmir as
Pakistani-inspired, rather than an indigenous revolt.
// QUERESHI ACT //
Every time they have a problem inside Indian-
held Kashmir, the Indians when they are unable
to control the freedom fighters, the indigenous
movement inside Indian-held Kashmir, they always
want to externalize it and put the blame on
Pakistan. This is again one of their propaganda
stunt to try and convince their own people
inside India and the world that whatever is
happening inside Indian-held Kashmir is being
sponsored (by Pakistan).
// END ACT //
Military authorities in India say that more than two-
thousand Kashmir separatists are waiting to infiltrate
Indian Territory from Pakistani Kashmir. They say the
militants are spread out at different locations along
the 740-kilometer "Line of Control" that divides
Kashmir between the two countries.
Pakistan denies Indian allegations that it is arming
insurgents fighting Indian rule in two-thirds of
Kashmir under New Delhi's control. Islamabad
maintains it only provides diplomatic and moral
support to, what it calls, Kashmiri freedom fighters.
The disputed Himalayan region has caused two wars
between India and Pakistan. Last year both countries
nearly went to a third war over Kashmir, after
Pakistan-backed guerrillas briefly seized strategic
heights on the Indian side of the mountainous region.
(SIGNED)
NEB/AG/RAE
19-Jun-2000 08:19 AM EDT (19-Jun-2000 1219 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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