LUXEMBOURG, April 16: European Union security and foreign policy chief Javier Solana is set to visit Islamabad end-May in a first-ever EU effort to try and ease Pakistan-India tensions over Kashmir, EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday.
The visit will also take Solana on a mission to Kabul to consult local leaders before the opening of Afghanistan’s emergency loya jirga or popular assembly in June. He is also expected to visit India.
The EU decision to dispatch Solana to Islamabad follows an urgent appeal by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw that the 15-nation bloc must focus more on Kashmir and the risk of increased Pakistan-India tensions over the disputed territory in the summer.
“It is vital to stop any deterioration of relations between Islamabad and Delhi before the snows melt” in Kashmir, said an EU diplomat.
Solana’s visit to Pakistan could be followed up by a trip by External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten.
Diplomats said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw used a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg to insist that Europe and the international community must pay increased attention to the tense relationship between South Asia’s nuclear powers.
“There must be EU engagement in the region,” said a British diplomat. “Our appraisal of the situation is that it is the international community’s responsibility to focus on a very sensitive situation.”
As such, all European Union countries must keep up their bilateral links with both Islamabad and Delhi. “But there are no plans to play the role of intermediary,” the diplomat added.
Others in Luxembourg said Solana would urge Pakistan to step up cooperation with India on security issues and the arrest of militants accused of terrorism in Kashmir and India.
