Honour January 6,2004 resolution, Advani tells Kasuri

New Delhi, Feb 21 (UNI) Former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today reminded Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri the January 6,2004 joint statement signed by their President Pervez Musharraf and then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in which Islamabad had said it would dismantle terrorist infrastructure on its territory.

''Please honour the commitment,'' Mr Advani told Mr Kasuri who called on the BJP leader this morning over breakfast along with a Pakistani delegation.

He said Pakistan had assured it would not allow its land to be used for cross-border terrorism against India. He said the two most important issues affecting Indo-Pak relations were cross border terrorism and Kashmir.

Appreciating the ongoing peace process between the two countries, Mr Advani however cautioned against any haste in resolving the Kashmir issue, saying the people of India would not accept any compromise on terrorism or any surrender on it.

He said the composite dialogue should cover all the eight issues including trade and economic cooperation, people to people contact and specific confidence-building measures besides the Kashmir issue ''without attempting to arrive at a quick-fix solution to it''.

The former Deputy Prime Minister explained to Mr Kasuri that Indian politics revolves mainly around domestic issues and not on foreign policy matters. ''However, issues relating to Indo-Pak relations are different. Even the common man in India is conscious of most problems between our two countries and has a definite view point on how to normalize our bilateral relations. Therefore, whichever government is in office, it must take decisions keeping in mind how the people react,'' he added.

Mr Advani praised Pakistani Government's initiative to renovate the historic Katasraj Temple near Lahore and to invite 150 pilgrims from India to visit the shrine on Maha Shivratri day.

Mr Kasuri on his part complimented the NDA government, under the leadership of Mr Vajpayee, for initiatives to bring about better relations between the two countries.

UNI