10 September 2004	Friday	24 Rajab 1425

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NEW DELHI, Sept 9: The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan have come out of their rare talks pleased with the modest gains they made and confident of tackling the more complex political agenda that lies ahead with mature diplomacy , both leaders were quoted on Thursday as saying.

Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri spoke to The Hindu newspaper shortly before his departure on Wednesday. He recommended that India, Iran and Pakistan should form a joint working group to discuss plans for an oil-gas pipeline running through the three countries. The feedback from the Indian leadership had been positive, he said.

Indian Foreign Minister Kunwar Natwar Singh told BBC World on Thursday that the 'modest success' made should be seen in the backdrop of the adage that 'diplomacy offers hope, it does not offer solutions.'

And yet, Mr Singh said, the two-day talks were "the most extensive and serious interaction with Pakistan after nearly 40 years." Both sides stated their position in 'a civilized way' and went on to other subjects to carry the composite dialogue forward, he noted.

Mr Kasuri was sanguine that the pipeline project was not the easiest idea to sell to everyone in Pakistan. So he had an explanation. "The argument that we are using for our public, which is not accustomed to dealing with India, is that this pipeline is in Pakistan's interest. And, we are saying it's a stand-alone project - it's not a reversal of our policy - we are still interested in Kashmir."

Pakistan was conditioning its public to a different kind of relationship with India, The Hindu quoted Mr Kasuri as saying. He was hopeful that a meeting of Indian and Pakistani petroleum ministers on the pipeline would take place soon.

According to Mr Kasuri, the pipeline proposal flew right in the face of Pakistan's old stand that there could be no meaningful relationship with India until the Kashmir issue was resolved.

"It was thought that this was fundamental and could not be watered down," he said, adding that a calculated departure had been made from the previous position. Admitting that Pakistan had problems in giving the Most Favoured Nation status to India, Mr Kasuri felt that the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) was an "MFN plus" situation because tariffs would soon be pegged at zero to five per cent, The Hindu said.

Mr Kasuri said that India had rejected a Pakistani suggestion to have Special Representatives discuss the Jammu and Kashmir issue during the current round of talks with his counterpart, Natwar Singh.

"They (the Indians) said we'll use the existing mechanism more purposefully or more effectively - something of that nature. Okay, we are prepared to give that a chance. We are not unreasonable, we are not dogmatic," he said, stressing that Pakistan didn't say that they would break off the dialogue if no Special Representatives were agreed upon to discuss Kashmir.