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Response to cease-fire offer a cause for
dismay, feels Pakistan media: PTI

Dawn's editorial termed the Indian offer as "happy news" and said the negative response to the offer from some militants involved in the Kashmir conflict comes as "a cause of great dismay".

"It is pity that even a remote opportunity of a political option should be ignored," the paper said.

Stressing that Pakistan should welcome the offer, the paper said that "it is hoped that the bigger Kashmiri militant factions and political groupings will deem it wise to reciprocate the offer."

The News said the offer was "enormously significant", but added, "how far this move will go hinges entirely on its (Vajpayee Government's) sincerity of purpose."

"This olive branch from (Prime Minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee is, therefore, an extraordinary gesture that does not gel with the usual policy successive governments in New Delhi subscribed to and implemented without ever computing costs," the paper said.

The Nation's editorial said, "New Delhi will have to do much before the announcement is seriously taken by anybody."

The paper said, "Unless the cessation of hostilities is followed up by a genuine and sincere attempt to resolve the core issue, peace may not extend beyond a month, which both the Indian troops and Kashmiri militants will use to improve their position on the ground to be better able to fight after Eid."

The paper said that unless there was "a genuine change of heart in the Indian leadership, no signs of which are yet visible, moves of the type are bound to be interpreted as attempts at dividing the freedom movement."

In an interview to The News, Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman Saleem Hashim said the Hizb would react positively to the short-term cease-fire provided India recognises Kashmir as a disputed territory and agrees to tripartite negotiations for its solution."

In another news report in The News, Pakistan People's Party's Punjab unit president Mubashir Hasan welcomed the cease-fire offer by India and said, "Pakistan and the whole world had been waiting for more than a year."

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