May 14, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 11, 1424

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UNITED NATIONS, May 13: Pakistan asserted on Tuesday that there can be no “durable solution” to the Kashmir issue unless the aspiration of the people of Jammu and Kashmir are taken into consideration and New Delhi and Islamabad display “flexibility, goodwill and wisdom”.

“We are confident that the international community, especially the United Nations and UN Secretary-General will extend their full support to Pakistan and India in their endeavours for peace,” Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri told the special session of the UN Security Council.

Invoking the Kashmir issue during a debate on “the role of Council in the Pacific Settlement of disputes”, he said that he does not wish to say anything which would vitiate the atmosphere for the resumption of bilateral talks with India at the initiative of prime ministers of the two countries.

However, he said, it is a “historical fact” that the Council adopted a resolution on April 21, 1948, promising a “free and fair” plebiscite under UN auspices to enable people of Jammu and Kashmir to determine whether they wish to join India or Pakistan.”

The Council, Mr Kasuri said, instituted a series of mechanism, including establishment of UN Commission on India and Pakistan, the deployment of a military observer mission and the appointment of “eminent” special representative of UN who “consulted the two parties and submitted “extensive reports on how to resolve the dispute in accordance with the Security Council resolutions.”

“The process ran aground due to the Cold War when the Security Council could no longer act to persuade the parties to implement its resolution,” he added.

The Shimla agreement and Lahore declaration, he said, support solution through bilateral solutions through discussions, he said, adding that “at the Agra summit in July 2001, Pakistan and India almost succeeded in launching a framework for revived talks.

“Today, despite the discouraging record, Pakistan is hopeful that we can revive the process of dialogue for which we have been pressing, consistently, before and after the Agra summit. While there is no roadmap as yet, we have embarked on a road” Mr Kasuri observed.

PALESTINE: Saying that Palestine is another historical issue which remains outstanding on the Council’s agenda Mr Kasuri noted that “on this issue, the Council has acted under both Chapter VI and Chapter VII of the Charter” but it still remains unresolved.

He expressed hope that the new road map for peace in the middle-east in coordination with the mechanism of the Quartet given by the United States could be a step towards durable peace in the region.