'Kashmir should be the beneficiary of Indo-Pak peace process'
Pakistan Times Kashmir Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Ambassador-at-Large Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri Tuesday said it was important to associate the Kashmiris with efforts to find a just solution to the Jammu-Kashmir dispute and they should be the beneficiary of the Pakistan-India peace process.

The Ambassador-at-Large in an in-depth meeting with the Kashmiri leaders said Pakistan looked forward to engaging India purposefully in finding a just and durable settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. "The Composite Dialogue Process should be result oriented," he added.

The meeting was held in the backdrop of the forthcoming ministerial level talks between Pakistan and India to be held in New Delhi on September 5 and 6.

President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Muhammad Anwar Khan, Prime Minister Sardar Sikander Hayat Khan and Chairman Special Committee of the Parliament on Kashmir Hamid Nasir Chatta attended the meeting.

Ambassador-at-Large Kasuri said; "It was important to associate the Kashmiris with the efforts for finding a just final settlement in accordance with their legitimate aspirations." He said besides Pakistan and India, the Kashmiris were in fact the major interested party and should thus be the beneficiary of the Pakistan-India peace process.

Kasuri said "durable peace in South Asia could only be achieved by finding a solution to Kashmir issue by addressing the aspirations of the people there."

He said the international community was closely monitoring the Composite Dialogue Process and it had a moral, political and legal obligation to ensure that international legitimacy was respected and a solution found in accordance with the aspirations of the people of Kashmir. The Kashmiri leaders expressed total confidence in the efforts of Pakistan to promote the just Kashmir cause and made suggestions and recommendations in this regard.

The meeting was part of Pakistan's policy to maintain close contact with the Kashmiris. Pakistan has always taken them into confidence over the ongoing efforts at finding a just solution to the Jammu and Kashmir issue, in consonance with the UN Resolution.

Kashmir important issue to be resolved: Dixit

Meanwhile, India said on Tuesday that Kashmir is an important issue to be resolved between India and Pakistan, however its resolution should not hold people of the sub-continent hostage.

"Kashmir is an important issue to be resolved between India and Pakistan. But its resolution should not hold 1.3 billion people (of the sub-continent) hostage," National Security Adviser J N Dixit stated while talking to Press Trust of India ahead of the Indo-Pak Foreign Minister's level talks in New Delhi.

Speaking on the margins of 'Regional Conference on SAARC: Post-Islamabad Challenges' here, the advisor the two countries should
further economic relations to exploit the immense potential in this sphere.

Earlier, inaugurating the day-long conference being attended by delegates from Pakistan and other SAARC nations, he said "prejudices" remained a hurdle in movement of the regional countries towards cooperation at government level.

"Time has come for moving forward with conviction and sense of clarity on what is good for us," he added. Noting that India had greater responsibility, he said, this can be meaningful only if there is a response to it.

"By just saying you have larger responsibility does not help. You have to shoulder the responsibility," Dixit said adding, the reciprocity "may not be equal and matching but there should be an acknowledgement about willingness to it." ●