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Sharief will consult parliament: US

C K Arora in Washington

The Bill Clinton administration has indicated that Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief will consult his country's parliament and opposition leaders on the implementation of his assurance about the restoration of the Line of Control in Kashmir.

State department spokesman James Foley said yesterday that Sharief was scheduled to return to Islamabad today after his visit to the US, Britain and Saudi Arabia. ''Our understanding is that he plans to meet parliament and opposition leaders to discuss the way forward,'' he added.

''We believe certainly that the prime minister is committed to an early resolution of this crisis, and that means restoration of the Line of Control and return to the Lahore process, which was a very hopeful development that occurred earlier this year in which India and Pakistan agreed to discuss the whole range of issues between them, including Kashmir. And that is the way, in our view, to go forward and to get beyond this crisis, with its dangers of escalation,'' he added.

The spokesman again drew attention to Pakistani army Chief Pervez Musharraf's statement, supporting the prime minister.

Asked whether India would now agree to return to the Lahore process, Foley said, ''I believe they've indicated that they want to see, obviously, the restoration of the Line of Control, but I believe certainly privately, if not publicly, that India remains committed to the Lahore process.''

He made it clear that the US would not support anything ''that's against the interests of Pakistan or against the interests of India. We believe it's fundamentally against the interests of both peoples for this crisis to continue, for the conflict to continue, with its attendant risks of escalation.''

UNI

The Kargil Crisis

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