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British minister hopes J&K poll will help restore peace

Shyam Bhatia in London

British Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien has praised India's Election Commission for its "strenuous efforts" to ensure free and fair elections in Jammu & Kashmir, adding that he hopes the election will be a step in a broader process to bring peace to the region.

O'Brien also singled out the efforts of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, saying his personal intervention had ensured the Election Commission's effort to run free and fair elections that resulted in a level of fairness, despite the continuing violence.

The British minister's comments on the Jammu & Kashmir election come only a few days after Commonwealth ministers expressed their reservations about the "flawed" provincial and National Assembly elections in Pakistan.

Last Friday the chairman of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group meeting in London, Bostwana Foreign Minister Mompati Merafhe, told a news conference, "It would be premature to conclude that democracy has returned to Pakistan."

In additional comments about tensions between India and Pakistan, O'Brien told the House of Commons in London, "I was in Delhi two weeks ago on the day that India announced its intention to redeploy forces from the Pakistan border. That is certainly to be welcomed. Pakistan responded promptly the next day by announcing a return to barracks of some of its forces.

"There has been a broad welcome for that de-escalation by both sides. Both President Musharraf and Prime Minister Vajpayee have shown that they do not want war and that they want a peaceful way forward. We now need to ensure that there is an end to terrorism and a beginning of a process of greater contact between the two countries. In due course, I hope that it will be possible to hold discussions that will lead to a peaceful settlement of the disputes, including those in relation to Kashmir."

Asked to comment on continuing cross-border terrorism, O'Brien replied, "I share the concern about cross-border infiltration. We have raised the matter regularly with the Pakistani government, including during the visit of my right honourable friend, the secretary of state, to Islamabad on 19 and 20 July, and when he met the Pakistani foreign minister on 16 September in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.

"The Pakistani Government have assured us that President Musharraf's pledge that there will be no further movement across the Line of Control still stands, and that the Pakistani Army is doing all it can to stop infiltration. We are ensuring that the Pakistani Government are aware of our continued concern and we are working with them in order to try to ensure that those promises are indeed kept."

ALSO SEE:
India welcomes Commonwealth decision on Pakistan

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