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| February 10, 2003 | Monday | Zul Hijjah 8,1423 |
US to remain engaged in South Asia, Kasuri told
ISLAMABAD, Feb 9: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri during his visit to the United States held extensive and in-depth discussions with top officials of the US administration and key legislators.
The minister returned on Friday after the visit.
He spoke at major think tanks and appeared on leading US television networks. He was also interviewed by the leading US print media.
Mr met President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Attorney-General John Ashcroft, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
During the meetings, he discussed the range of Pakistan-US relations.
He attended two ministerial sessions of the Security Council on combating terrorism and the Iraq situation.
He also met former president Carter, former national security adviser Brzezinski, and former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger.
His emphasis in the talks was on adding depth, permanence and an institutional underpinning to the Pakistan-US relationship, so that it would be able to withstand the vicissitudes of the changing global environment.
The discussions focused on Pakistan-US cooperation against terrorism, bilateral political relations, economic and commercial cooperation, particularly market access issues, defence cooperation, peace and security in South Asia, Afghanistan, the situation in Iraq and the registration issue.
On Kashmir, he briefed his interlocutors about the gross human rights violations in the occupied Kashmir and emphasized the need for an early resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
He briefed the US officials and legislators about Pakistan’s invitation to the Indian prime minister to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation’s summit in Islamabad, which did not materialize due t o India’s unhelpful attitude.
He emphasized the need for the US to remain engaged in South Asia to facilitate the initiation of a bilateral dialogue between Pakistan and India. He received assurances that the US would remain engaged in the region.
Regarding the registration process, he found the US leadership deeply sympathetic towards Pakistan’s concerns. It assured him that the US administration would do everything possible to provide relief to the Pakistanis.
His efforts are likely to lead towards substantial concessions from the US side for the Pakistani community.
He was told that an inter-departmental process was started to consider Pakistan’s concerns.
The officials concerned hinted that the deadline for registration in case of Pakistan would be extended.
He was informed that the embassy officials would be allowed to assist the community at various Immigration and Naturalization Service centres on designated dates.
The government has also received assurances that large-scale deportations would not occur and that Pakistanis with pending cases in the INS would not be deported provided they had no criminal record.
The foreign minister met chairmen of the Senate foreign relations committee, armed services committee and intelligence committee and their ranking members and their counterparts in the Democratic Party, besides meetings with leading members of the House of Representatives and chairman of the international relations committee.
He put forth Pakistan’s case for developing the country’s economy through trade and market access.
He highlighted the need to correct the imbalance of conventional forces in South Asia.
He addressed the Rand Corporation in Los Angeles, Brookings Institution, American Enterprises Institute in Washington DC and National Defence University.
He spoke at community gatherings in New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC.
It is expected that Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and President Pervez Musharraf would visit the US in the coming months.—APP
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