India rebuffs Pakistan's appeal for Kashmir talks

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/09/24/international2256EDT0881.DTL

ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press Writer Wednesday, September 24, 2003

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(09-24) 19:56 PDT NEW YORK (AP) --

India rejected Pakistan's invitation Wednesday to negotiate a settlement concerning the disputed province of Kashmir, just hours after Pakistan's president broached the idea in an address to the U.N. General Assembly.

India Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha called Kashmir an "inalienable part of India" that nobody can take away.

"What is Pakistan's right to talk about Jammu-Kashmir?" Sinha said to applause from Indian-American students at Columbia University.

Earlier Wednesday, Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf invited New Delhi "to join Pakistan in a sustained dialogue to resolve the Kashmir dispute."

Kashmir has been the cause of two of the three wars between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

In his speech, Musharraf also accused India of "suppress(ing) the legitimate struggle" of Kashmiris and violating their human rights.

Sinha and India Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke to students about economic development in India. Vajpayee was not present when Sinha spoke about Kashmir.

Earlier this week, India proposed that both countries add staff to their respective embassies as a step toward normalizing relations. The two countries recently restored ambassadors in each other's capitals.

India accuses Pakistan of training and arming Islamic militants in Kashmir, a charge denied by Pakistan, which says it provides only diplomatic support.

India recently accused Pakistan of being involved in car bombings in Bombay last month that killed 53 people and wounded more than 150. India also blames Pakistan for a December 2001 attack by Islamic militants on India's Parliament which took both countries to the brink of war. Pakistan denies involvement in both attacks.

President Bush separately met with Vajpayee and Musharraf in New York earlier Wednesday, but details of the talks were not immediately available.