Pakistan Pledges principled stand on Kashmir
By Rafique Goraya - Pakistan Times Federal Bureau Chief

ISLAMABAD: President General Pervez Musharraf’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York in September encouraged Islamabad to initiate a public debate to look for options for the solution of lingering Jammu and Kashmir dispute, said a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said in his weekly briefing here that in their meeting in New York Manmohan Singh and Musharraf themselves felt to move forward peace process, indicating to explore options for solution of Kashmir dispute.

He said conducive environment has to be created to move forward the peace process, saying secret diplomacy between India and Pakistan is “no more secret” and these communication channels have become informal to discuss options.

Pro-active Approach

He said Islamabad is following a pro-active approach to settle Kashmir dispute as both sides have to look into options and they should no more be prisoners of history.

On President’s remarks of demilitarization of Kashmir region and its joint control to both India and Pakistan, Masood said these are not proposals but a “tentative beginning” to settle the dispute. He clarified Pakistan has yet to go into formal dialogues with India on the question of exploring options on Kashmir issue.

He said under no circumstances Pakistan would unilaterally change any aspect of its principled stance on Kashmir as Islamabad would remain glue to its stance of holding plebiscite in the dispute valley by allowing Kashmiri people to exercise the right of self-determination.

He said both sides will have to demonstrate flexibility in the process of exploring options on Kashmir dispute, urging New Delhi to assume the role of a reciprocator.
To a query whether Parliament would also debate options for Kashmir solution, Masood said Parliament being a sovereign body could also debate options and can benefit of what media is discussing on the subject.

Reunification of APHC

Masood said Pakistan is for reunification of the APHC and would hail any such effort by Kashmiri leaders on the subject.

On the agenda of prime minister’s ongoing visit to SAARC countries, he said as Chairman Pakistan is all for speedy materialization of South Asia Free Trade Agreement and steps to strengthen the cooperation in energy sector to alleviate poverty.

UN Security Council Reforms

On UN Security Council reforms, the spokesman said Pakistan will play a pivotal role once the report of the UN Secretary General is finalised. He reiterated Islamabad’s opposition on the expansion of Security Council’s permanent members enjoying the veto powers.

He said US Deputy Secretary of State Mr Armitage will visit Pakistan soon with agenda of talks that would largely revolve around regional and international issues, including bilateral ties between India and Pakistan and situation in Afghanistan.●