Himmatnagar (Gujarat): Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today (Apr 1, 2004) said Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's message that he would not be a party to the peace process with India if there was no forward movement on Kashmir issue was due to "domestic compulsions".

"I think Musharraf's statement stemmed out of domestic compulsions, but so long as he sticks to a course decided at the Secretary-level meeting, there should be no problem," he told reporters in Himmatnagar during his 'Bharat Uday Yatra'.

Hoping that differences between the two nations would be resolved through dialogue, Advani said the joint statement signed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Musharraf in Islamabad was a landmark event. At the meetings between the Joint Secretaries and Foreign Secretaries of the two countries, it was decided on how to proceed for a dialogue, he said.

"We should pursue the same direction," he added.

Pointing out that Indo-Pak problems, including the Kashmir issue, can be solved through talks, Advani said India has proceeded towards resolving bilateral differences with optimism.

Asked whether Pakistan's message was due to the recently acquired "major non-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) ally" status from the US, Advani said, "We are concerned about it. We reacted strongly after it was done."

Replying to a question whether there is a possibility of ceasefire with militants in Jammu and Kashmir, he said, "There is nothing as such at the moment."

Commenting on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's reported remarks on Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, he said, "I do not want to get into that."

Musharraf had yesterday said, "If we do not move forward, I am not in the process. They know that. I told everyone absolutely unambiguously that if you think that I am here to sell Kashmir, you are talking to the wrong man".