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Advani justifies summit with Pakistan

The army has always been the real source of power in Pakistan, Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani said on Thursday, justifying India's decision to invite General Pervez Musharraf for talks.

"It is a hard reality that in Pakistan even when elected representatives were ruling, the real source of power was with the army," he said when asked by reporters in Ankara, Turkey, if Musharraf was in a better position to make peace with India.

Advani, who is on a two-day visit to Turkey, said India would not like any third party to mediate on Kashmir as a solution can only be found bilaterally and hoped that Pakistan would use the Indian initiative to bring peace in the region.

The home minister categorically denied any outside pressure on India to hold a summit with Pakistan. "It is surprising that anyone should even suggest something like that, I am amazed," he said in an informal chat with reporters at a reception hosted in his honour by the Indian ambassador.

"I know the entire process of consultations. It was entirely Vajpayee's initiative," he said, referring to the forthcoming peace talks.

He noted that Turkey had always favoured a bilateral dialogue to resolve the Kashmir dispute. "Even during the Kargil conflict, Turkey emphasised the inviolability of the Line of Control and that it be strictly adhered to," he added.

PTI

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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