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Sartaj sparks row on LoC

Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz has said he was ready to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Jaswant Singh on Monday.

''We have proposed Monday and now we are waiting to hear back from India,'' said Aziz. ''Our only agenda is to defuse the tension.''

However, Aziz has created a major controversy just before his arrival in New Delhi. In an interview to PTV, he has questioned the validity of the 740-kilometre-long Line of Control. He said the LoC was 'not clearly defined', sending shock waves in New Delhi.

At a media conference in Islamabad, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief dismissed India's contention that Pakistan was sending in infiltrators and warned that ''nuclear powers should never be in a state of confrontation''.

He said he had spoken thrice on the telephone with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to open negotiations to end the military action in Kashmir.

He warned that the heightened tension along the border was making it increasingly difficult to keep the peace process alive.

''The dialogue process is in grievous danger of being derailed,'' he warned. ''Such a situation will neither be in the interest of India nor in the interest of Pakistan. The urgent necessity therefore is to defuse the current situation.''

Sharief, meanwhile, continued to press for international mediation to settle the Kashmir issue.

Special Correspondent in Delhi, UNI

The Kargil Crisis

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