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Army can't stop people on Kashmir border: CE

ISLAMABAD: The Chief Executive, General Pervez Musharraf on Thursday said his army was unable to stop militants crossing the long-disputed Kashmir border with India.

A government statement quoted Musharraf saying the border was "spread over a porous mountainous region and despite our best efforts it was not possible to stop movement of people in such a large area".

"If over 700,000 Indian troops in occupied Kashmir, who according to the Indians are there to stop infiltration cannot do so, why blame Pakistan," he said.

Musharraf also told a joint meeting of his top advisory National Security Council and the Cabinet that Indian forces fighting a separatist revolt in Kashmir were guilty of "state terrorism", the statement said.

The meeting was held two days after the United States announced that President Bill Clinton would make a stopover in Pakistan on March 25 at the end of a five-day visit to India and would discuss matters including ways to combat terrorism.

India accuses Pakistan of training and arming Kashmiri militants and sending them across a 720-m (450-mile) military Line of Control (LoC) to fight Indian forces, charges Islamabad denies.

Musharraf said Pakistan "condemnes all sorts of terrorism, including irresponsible statements and actions...indicative of a terrorist mindset".

But he said "the liberation movement in Kashmir is totally indigenous" and added that Pakistan was only extending moral, diplomatic and political support to Kashmiris "who are victims of state terrorism by the Indian occupying forces".

India rules about 45 percent and Pakistan just over a third of Kashmir, over which the two countries have fought two of their three war since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. China holds the remainder of the region.-Reuters