ISLAMABAD, May 2: Pakistan on Friday welcomed India’s decision to appoint its High Commissioner to Islamabad and said Prime Minister Jamali will “respond in a concrete form” to the offer of the Indian Prime Minister.
Pakistan was responding to an announcement by Prime Minister Vajpayee in the Indian Lok Sabha today on re-establishment of diplomatic ties with Pakistan.
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri talking to newsmen here at the foreign office termed the Indian overtures “better late than never” and said “Pakistan is ready to start the dialogue process to hold meaningful discussions on all outstanding issues between the two countries including that of Jammu and Kashmir.”
The foreign minister said: “We are pleased that measures previously taken by India unilaterally, which had affected our relations, are being withdrawn by the Government of India.”
He said, Pakistan has always called for maintaining ties at the level of the High Commissioners and have been supportive of people-to-people contacts and the resumption of various links and exchanges.
Pakistan, he said, had also welcomed Prime Minister Vajpayee’s statement of April 18.
Mr Kasuri dispelled the impression that the two countries were under some external pressure to resume talks. He said there are friends who would like us to resume normal relations. He said it will be unfair to term it as “outside pressure”.
About a senior US State Department official Richard Armitage’s forthcoming visit to the subcontinent, he said, many friendly countries have been urging the two countries to start talks.
“The momentum has to come from within India and Pakistan. Ultimately we have to talk to each other.”
He said the beginning of the talk-process will enable the two countries to focus on economic and social development of its people. —AFP
Qudssia Akhlaque adds: Pakistani authorities on Friday decided at the highest level to announce peace initiatives in response to the steps announced by the Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee earlier in the day.
An official announcement to this effect will be made in a couple of days, Dawn learnt through reliable sources.
The two-hour meeting was presided over by President Gen Pervez Musharraf and attended by Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar, and Additional Secretary Southeast Asia Tauheed Ahmed.
“It was decided at the meeting that Pakistan would respond positively to steps announced by India, maintain the same momentum and make maximum efforts to bring the Indians to the negotiating table,” sources privy to the meeting told Dawn.
“Currently some proposals are being examined and a decision will be taken soon,” sources said, adding that Prime Minister Jamali was likely to make the announcement.
Pakistan had last week conveyed its willingness to nominate a senior official to workout the agenda for talks.
Last May New Delhi had informed Islamabad that Harsh Bhasin would be the Indian High Commissioner. However, it did not ask for agreema for the appointment. Rumour has it that some other names are being considered for the post. One of them being Manilal Tripathy who served as Indian Consul General in Pakistan in the eighties.
Meanwhile, India has not clarified whether revival of air link would also mean the resumption of PIA flights to Bombay and New Delhi. It is said that the breakthrough in Pakistan-India strained relations has come about after almost two weeks of hectic behind- the scene diplomacy both on domestic and international front. The United States and other major world powers like Britain and France have been pressing both the countries to de-escalate tensions and resume dialogue.
