Author: Agencies
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: May 16, 2003
Introduction: Defying ban on entry,
Jayish leader arrives in Pak - occupied Kashmir
Defying orders ban-ning his entry
into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Jaish-e- Mohammad leader Maulana Masood
Azhar to-day reached Kotii town in PoK, a private television channel, Geo
TV reported.
However, local officials denied
that the Jaish leader, blamed for masterminding the December 2001 attack
on Parliament, had man-aged to enter PoK in con-nection with the birth-day
celebrations of Prophet Mohammed.
The channel said Azhar appeared
in Kotii much to the surprise of officials there. Pakistan government yesterday
banned his entry into PoK and had ordered setting up of pickets to pre-vent
Azhar from addressing a public rally in Kotii today.
Meanwhile, Pakistan
Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali today suggested that India and Pakistan
take steps to isolate "hawks" in both countries. He assured that he would
find a way out of domestic pressures to re-solve the Kashmir issue and
there would be "no break" in the dialogue process from now on. "The unfortunate
part is having some of the hawks on both sides... I think a few gestures,
and acts have to be made so that we can get to a consensus at a level where
we could take proper and appropriate de-cisions," Jamali told BBC's Urdu
service in an interview here today. Advocating a measured approach towards
building a consensus for res-olution of problems, he said "Well, you can't
just jump up and start talking at once. It has to be a step-by-step measure
that has to be taken. They have said a few things, we have said a few things,
I think at a best time it has to start."
On being asked what he thought about
the serious-ness of his Indian counter-part, Jamali said, "As I spoke to
Vajpayee on telephone, I felt that he has the will to re-solve this long-standing
dis-pute and I am sure we can do it and we will do it."
