ISLAMABAD, May 19: Pakistan reiterated here on Monday that Islamabad was ready for an early “composite dialogue” that covered all outstanding issues with India and expressed the strong hope that New Delhi’s response to all gestures made in this regard by Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali would lead to a “quick resumption of talks.”
Foreign Office spokesman Aziz Ahmad Khan reiterated at his weekly briefing that as far as Pakistan was concerned, it believed the Jammu and Kashmir issue should be decided peacefully through negotiations keeping in view the wishes of the Kashmiri people which, he insisted, “had been in any case integrated in the process as categorically defined in the UN Security Council resolutions”.
Mr Aziz Khan was responding to a question on a reported statement of Azad Kashmmir President Sardar Sikandar Hayat supporting a settlement of the Kashmir dispute on a communal basis with Muslim majority areas joining Pakistan and rest of the disputed state “remaining with India”.
Asked about conflicting and confusing reports concerning the appointment of Pakistan’s new High Commissioner to India following the agreement to resume full diplomatic relations, Mr Khan said no decision “has yet been taken in this regard till this moment,” adding that in recent news reports Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali was not quoted accurately on the subject.
He explained that the naming of the ambassador required a certain protocol. “The normal diplomatic procedure is that after the head of government has taken a decision, it is communicated for agreement of the other government and once that communication has been agreed, then a simultaneous announcement is made.”
The spokesman said the Indian government announced the name of its high commissioner to Pakistan, Shiv Shankar Menon, after Islamabad’s agreement was conveyed to New Delhi.
The spokesman confirmed that President Musharraf was scheduled to meet President George W. Bush on June 24. Without a pre-determined agenda, he said, the two leaders would cover all bilateral and regional issues.
Mr Khan said the president might also visit Turkey in the latter part of the current year. Turkey’s foreign minister Abdullah Gul was due here on Tuesday on a two-day visit to hold talks with Pakistani leaders and senior officials.
Commenting on a reported suggestion made by the APHC seeking a cease-fire between the Mujahideen and Indian troops as reportedly proposed by the APHC to facilitate a Pakistan-India dialogue, the spokesman said: “The APHC is a true representative of the Kashmiri people, we respect their sentiments, they speak about the sentiments of the Kashmiris.” But as far as Pakistan’s position was concerned, it had called for a dialogue to resolve all issues.
On the issue of “cross-LoC infiltration,” the spokesman reiterated Pakistan’s position, which calls for deployment of neutral observers on the LoC. “There is a verification mechanism, we are ready for it. India should also accept it, so that we get over with this particular misperception that they have,” he said.
Replying to a question, the spokesman said that the foreign office had conveyed “some ideas” regrading holding of SAARC summit in Islamabad during this year to the SAARC secretariat, but he did not specify the exact dates.
Asked to comment on a reported statement by the Indian External Affairs Minister calling for a structured dialogue starting from a lower level, the spokesman said it has not been officially communicated to the Pakistan government.
He replied in the negative when asked if Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali has again written to his Indian counterpart inviting him to visit Pakistan, as reported in the Indian media.
The spokesman said that there were still over 800-900 Pakistanis held in Afghan jails. The matter had been taken up with the Afghan authorities and hopefully all the prisoners would be released soon.
