Serious thought to Musharraf's proposal: Mufti

New Delhi, Dec 7: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and PDP Patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today called for ''giving a serious thought'' to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's fresh proposals on Kashmir and said a ''beginning'' must be made for the peaceful resolution of the vexed issue.

''The cost of not doing it will be much higher than the cost of doing it,'' Mr Sayeed said.

Pakistan President Musharraf in an interview to a news channel had said his country was prepared to give up its claim to Jammu and Kashmir if India reciprocates and approves self-governance for the strife-torn state.

Gen Musharraf said Pakistan supports a four-point solution that would give the region self-governance or autonomy, maintain Jammu and Kashmir's borders, produce a withdrawal of troops and create a mechanism for running the territory between India, Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir.

The People Democratic Party (PDP) has been advocating the formula of self-rule in Jammu and Kashmir.

''The aim should be on shifting the focus to more practical policy-oriented discussion of a possible solution to the issue for which PDP's self-rule formula provides a sound basis,'' Mr Sayeed said.

The PDP Patron today called on External Affairs Minister Parnab Mukherjee here this morning and discuss the prevailing situation in the sub-continent vis-a-vis Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Sayeed told the External Affairs Minister that the operational challenge in Jammu and Kashmir is to establish innovative institutional arrangement that will have political, economic and security character.

''Our basic premise is that the search for a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue could be possible only by giving the institutional arrangement both a political and economic basis,'' he said.

''Instead of allowing the borders to become a barrier for the movement of people, commodities and capital, we must allow the markets to override the dividing lines,'' he added The former chief minister said though the state of Jammu and Kashmir is an important political centre, it has not been made an economic partner either by India or Pakistan.

''This fact can be attributed mostly to the legacy of partition,'' he observed.

Reiterating that India and Pakistan should work out an institutional arrangement and move forward, he said a beginning has to be made in the larger interest of peace.

''Even though the arrangement design may appear to be constitutionally and legally incomplete and politically premature, a beginning has to be made,'' he added.

He said in view of the emotional surcharge, a one-point-one-time solution for resolution of the contentious issue is a near impossibility.

''What is required is a sequence of measures, which would resolve the situation... A step-by-step practical approach is needed for the extrication of the State from the tragic muddle.

UNI

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