August 23, 2003	Saturday	Jumadi-us-Sani 24, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 22: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali has said that Pakistan desires peaceful, cooperative and friendly relations with India.

In an interview to Saudi Arabia’s daily Okaz, the prime minister said: “It is with this intention that we have offered to India time and again that both countries should enter into a sustained and serious dialogue process.”

He said: “We are happy that the Indian leadership has realized the futility of the aggressive policy it had adopted against Pakistan during the last two years.”

In the recent months, the prime minister said, the two countries had taken reciprocal steps to improve relations, including exchange of high commissioners, resumption of bus service and encouraging people-to-people contact to create a better awareness of the issues that bedevil the relations.

He said Pakistan believed that sidelining the Kashmir issue was not an option, as this would not only prolong the miseries of the Kashmiri people but also undermine all efforts aimed at creating an atmosphere of mutual trust, which was essential for improving relations between Pakistan and India.

He said: “We need to keep up the momentum. The only way forward is to resume official level dialogue. We need to discuss all issues while maintaining the primacy of Jammu and Kashmir, as agreed upon by the two countries, through a composite dialogue framework.”

The prime minister said as a peace loving country Pakistan desired to establish tension free and normal relations with India.

However, this objective could not be achieved unless the two countries addressed and resolved the Kashmir dispute, which lay at the heart of Pakistan-India tension and hostilities, he said.

“The insuppressible desire of the people of Kashmir to exercise their right to self-determination has always defined the parameters of our Kashmir policy, which enjoys the support of all sections of the Pakistani society,” he said.

The prime minister said: “Let me make it very clear that a composite dialogue addressing all issues, including the core issue of Kashmir, is the only way forward towards improvement of relations between India and Pakistan.”

Replying to a question, he said the Karzai government had taken a number of important steps which would lead to the restoration of peace and stability in Afghanistan. The steps included the restoration of political institutions, including a new constitution in the country, he said.

These are positive developments, he said and added: “We are confident that the process of reconstruction will contribute to socioeconomic development.

“It is our desire to build a relationship of enduring goodwill and understanding with Afghanistan,” he said.

He said there were no contacts between Islamabad and Tel Aviv.

“We are a democratic country and it is good to have national debates on important issues. As the Middle East peace process moves ahead, there is a possibility that the states of Israel and Palestine may eventually exist side by side within recognized borders, living in peace and harmony,” he said.

He said that before taking a decision to recognize Israel, Pakistan would first take into account the outcome of the Middle East “road map” and its acceptance by the Palestinian Authority and the front line Arab states.

Responding to a question, he clarified that Pakistan did not seek any specific amount of assistance from the United States. He said that important programmes had been revised and the sanctions lifted over the past two years.

The latest package of $3 billion of economic and military assistance extending over five years was agreed upon during President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s recent visit to the US, he said.

He said the government’s decision to join the international community in the war against terrorism was based on national interest and not for a price.

Hei said: “We want a long-term and broad-based relationship with the US, a relationship encompassing political, strategic, economic and defence dimensions. We are happy to note that the US leadership shares our desire to make the bilateral relationship more broad-based, long-term and predictable.”—APP