Islamabad: Declaring that "history has been made" with India and Pakistan deciding to resume composite dialogue to settle their problems, President Pervez Musharraf today (Jan 6, 2004) said this was made possible because of the "vision and statesmanship" of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and it was a victory for "moderates" in the two countries.

"There was a thaw in the Indo-Pak relations in the past few months because of positive actions taken by both sides. We had to take this thaw, confidence-building measures, improvement in atmosphere forward.

"And there was a desire on both sides to take this process forward towards normalisation of relations. History has been made," Musharraf told a crowded press conference at the Aiwan-e-Sadar (Presidential Palace) in Islamabad, a few hours after the two countries issued a joint press statement announcing resumption of composite dialogue in February.

Musharraf, who had an hour-long discussion with Vajpayee yesterday (Jan 5, 2004) and had received a phone call from him this morning said, "the total credit goes to his (Vajpayee) vision and statesmanship" which contributed towards reaching the decision to resume composite dialogue.

Like the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan earlier in the day who read out the joint press statement to the media, the General also said, "there are no winners or losers. We must not get involved (as to) who won or who lost.

"It is a victory for all those peace-loving people of the world, victory for the people of India and Pakistan, victory for the people of Kashmir who have suffered all these years and are still suffering and victory for the moderates in India and Pakistan."

The General said there was "flexibility" on both sides during the bilateral negotiations, which led to the decision and specially mentioned the contributions of National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra, Foreign Ministers and Foreign Secretaries of both the countries in this regard.

"We have arrived at an agreement on taking this normalisation process forward and setting a framework for taking it to its logical length and its culmination."

Noting that there were three points in the joint press statement, he said while one was that Kashmir "is an issue which needed to be resolved", the other was that a composite dialogue has to be started on all issues, including Kashmir.

The third point, he said, was that Pakistan had reiterated its resolve to fight terrorism and not allow its soil to be used for terrorism anywhere in the world.