Islamabad: Rejecting President Pervez Musharraf's new Kashmir formula, Asif Ali Zardari, the incarcerated husband of former Premier Benazir Bhutto, has claimed it is part of a US plan to "entrench" its troops in the region in the garb of de-militarisation.

Zardari, who is imprisoned for the past eight years on various corruption and criminal charges, told reporters during a court appearance in Karachi yesterday (Oct 29, 2004) that it is a US plan to "entrench its troops in the area".

"Kashmir is of great strategic importance not only to Pakistan, but also for the entire region and Musharraf's offer to demilitarise and invite foreign troops in Kashmir in the garb of United Nations Peace Keeping Force was a well thought out American plan to entrench themselves physically in the area," he was quoted by daily 'Dawn' as saying.

Musharraf had said one option that could be considered to resolve Kashmir issue was to divide it into seven regions, demilitarise them and change their status. He said plebiscite, which Musharraf was willing to give up, is the only solution to resolve the Kashmir issue and added that Musharraf's plan reflected his own thinking or perhaps the opinion of a few hundred Army officers and not the decision of Parliament.

Declaring that his Pakistan Peoples Party would never accept any such proposal, he said it believed in a peaceful solution of Kashmir issue and had always lent political and moral support to the "just struggle" of the people of Kashmir.