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Kashmir is the key to peace, Sharief tells General Zinni

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief today told the visiting commander-in-chief of the US central command, General Anthony Zinni, that a durable peace in South Asia depends entirely on a speedy settlement of the Kashmir issue, an official statement in Islamabad said.

"The confrontation in Kargil is symptomatic of the problems that have bedevilled Pak-India relations over Kashmir, and unless a peaceful solution to it is reached within the shortest possible time, such situations will continue to erupt, threatening peace and endangering the stability of the region," Sharief told General Zinni.

The Marine Corps general was sent by President Bill Clinton to reportedly ask Pakistan to pull back the infiltrators from Indian military posts in Kargil.

But the Pakistani statement said the general, who also had a meeting yesterday with army chief General Pervez Musharraf, conveyed to the prime minister a message from President Clinton underscoring the need to de-escalate the situation in Kashmir.

Underlining the need for a balanced and constructive approach on Kashmir, Sharief was quoted as saying: "For more than 50 years Pakistan has emphasised the necessity of a just and final settlement of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the UN resolutions, but this has not been done."

DPA

The Kargil Crisis

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