July 1, 2003	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 30, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, June 30: Pakistan has welcomed the outcome of recent India-China talks in Beijing saying it augurs well for peace and stability in South Asia, and hoped that it would end India’s pretext for further militarization or development of weapons of mass destruction and unbridled defence shopping.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Masud Khan was giving Islamabad’s reaction to China-India relations at a weekly news briefing here on Monday.

Mr Masud Khan said: “We are glad that they (India and China) are trying to resolve their problems and they are moving towards reconciliation, understanding and cooperation. This is a good omen and augurs well for peace and stability in South Asia.”

“I think Indian pretext for further militarization or development of weapons of mass destruction has been removed and New Delhi should now put an end to its unbridled defence shopping spree.”

When asked to comment on the reported death of 16 people in occupied Kashmir, the spokesman said Pakistan condemned violence, and hoped it would not be allowed to aggravate the situation or affect efforts to improve peace and stability in South Asia.

In reply to a question, the spokesman said Pakistan had proposed the fifth round of Saarc Free trade Agreement (Safta) talks in August and it believed that the emergence of a free trade South Asia would be a welcome development.

About the just concluded visit of President Pervez Musharraf to the United States, the spokesman described it as historic which reversed more than a decade-old hiatus in US economic and military assistance to Pakistan. While the full impact of many agreements reached between the leaders of the two countries would take about 10 years to materialize, they had established a new and strong framework of mutual relationship, he said.

Replying to a question about Pakistan’s possible recognition of Israel, the spokesman recalled that President Musharraf had frequently spoken on the issue in detail. The spokesman stressed that the “key element here is that we have to evolve a national consensus. That is essential and that is a must. And the second ingredient is that we must consider our position and review it in the light of the evolving situation.” If the roadmap was implemented vigorously and if there was generally an atmosphere of reconciliation in the Middle East, “then we shall review our position and in so doing we shall consult our Muslim and Arab brother countries and ultimately we shall have to come back to the people of Pakistan and then take a decision.”

The spokesman also explained that “there are two or three parallel dynamics. One dynamic is the evolving situation in the region and the moves that have been made in the recent past to resolve the Palestinian issue and to give Palestinians statehood by year 2005.

And this dynamic had unleashed many other events or would unleash many other events. We have to monitor them and we have to adjust our policies to these developments. And we have our national dynamics and we have to inter-marry them and we will have to take a decision.”

On troop deployment in Iraq, Mr Masud Khan recalled that President Pervez Musharraf had recently stated in several of his statements that requests from the US and Britain about troop deployment had been under consideration sympathetically in Islamabad.

He, however, said that no decision had yet been taken in this connection.