Tuesday, January 11 2005 22:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: President Pervez Musharraf tonight (Jan 11, 2005) said that Pakistan would not accept any "India-made" solution to the Kashmir issue.

"We will not accept any solution of Kashmir with the stamp of 'Made in India' because this dispute cannot be resolved without the involvement of Kashmiris and Pakistan," he said in an interview to the private Geo TV.

Amidst reports that Pakistan may approach the World Bank for resolution of the Baglihar hydro-power dam issue with India, Musharraf said he was still hopeful of reaching a peaceful settlement to the dispute.

In the wake of failure of the Baglihar talks between India and Pakistan, he said he was hopeful of settling the issue because a lot of things were taking place between the two countries behind the scenes.

The outcome of the Secretary-level talks held in Delhi, which was "not encouraging", was discussed at a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz last night, Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said.

"Important decisions were taken during the meeting. We will see now how we proceed. Our firm decision on the World Bank intercession will be made public soon," Khan said.

The high-level meeting presided over by Aziz advised the concerned departments to prepare a case to be filed at the World Bank for the appointment of independent experts, official APP news agency quoted Khan as telling a private television.

Khan earlier said that even before the recent meeting of the Water Secretaries in Delhi, Pakistan's leadership had decided to invoke Article 9(2)(A) of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, which was brokered by the World Bank to share the waters of six rivers.

The article dealt with arbitration in case of a dispute, Khan said, adding "it was only a matter of timing."

He said the "last meeting" of the Water Secretaries was held after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave an assurance to Aziz that India would respond to Pakistan's legitimate concerns.

"The feedback from the meeting was presented to the Prime Minister (Aziz). Frankly it was not encouraging," he said.

Khan said Pakistan has begun briefing the diplomats of EU and other countries about its stand on Baglihar dam being built by India over river Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir.

"We are briefing concerned countries, which are naturally interested in the developments on the Baglihar Dam. The Indus Water Treaty has an international dimension as the World Bank mediated it. Several European countries want to know what is happening," he said.