India not ready for joint management of J&K Thursday, January 11, 2007 05:30 [IST]
New Delhi: India is not ready to agree to joint management
of Jammu and Kashmir as proposed by Pakistan
but is open to ideas like setting up of joint consultative mechanism on various
issues including tourism and health.
This will be conveyed to Pakistan
when External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee travels there on Saturday on a
two-day visit during which he will also seek to know what the Musharraf Government
has done to address India's
concerns over continuing cross-border terrorism.
The two sides will also discuss Siachen amid 'indications' from Pakistan about its readiness to authenticate
present troop positions at the glacier, a pre-condition set by India for demilitarisation
of the region.
Efforts to resolve the Sir Creek issue have witnessed 'considerable progress'
and the process of joint survey of the disputed marshy land and waters off the Gujarat coast is expected to be completed by March.
Mukherjee is travelling to Pakistan
primarily to extend an invitation to President Pervez Musharraf for the 14th
SAARC Summit to be held here in April. During his stay there, he will hold
talks with his counterpart Khurshid M Kasuri on all bilateral issues.
On Jammu and Kashmir, India is ready
to discuss anything short of secession.
"The proposal of Joint Management of the state, floated by Musharraf, is
not acceptable to India.
It is, however, open to ideas like setting up of a joint consultative mechanism
on issues including tourism, health and ecology," sources here said.
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