TOKYO, Jan 17 (1996): Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said on Wednesday that Islamabad was ready to discuss the issue of troubled Kashmir if India was prepared to put it on the agenda of bilateral talks.
Bhutto told Japanese Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda that Pakistan was ready to negotiate with India over the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir if it was included in bilateral talks, Japanese foreign ministry officials said.
Ikeda responded by saying Pakistan and India needed to maintain a dialogue on the issue to realise lasting peace in the area, Japanese officials said.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since they won independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over the disputed territory of Kashmir.
Moslem guerrilla forces are fighting a six-year-old separatist revolt in India’s northern Jammu and Kashmir state. Police and hospitals say more than 20,000 people have been killed in the rebellion.
India accuses Pakistan of aiding and arming the guerrillas, but Pakistan denies the charges and says it provides only moral and diplomatic support to them.
Bhutto, accompanied by several business leaders, arrived in Japan on Wednesday on a four-day visit aimed at urging Tokyo to step up credit and investment.
Japan is Pakistan’s biggest aid donor and trade partner.
Bhutto is due to be the first foreign leader to meet Japan’s new prime minister when she holds talks with Ryutaro Hashimoto on Thursday. Hashimoto became prime minister last week.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the Pakistani prime minister expressed concern about reports that New Delhi was planning a second nuclear test.
She urged South Asia be made a nuclear-free zone, adding Pakistan was ready to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) tomorrow but only if India joined as well.
India has refused to sign the treaty, claiming it discriminates between nuclear weapon states and those without the atomic bomb.
India exploded an atomic device in 1974, but, like Pakistan, denies possessing nuclear weapons. U.S. officials say both countries could swiftly assemble nuclear weapons.
