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| June 11, 2005 | Saturday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 3, 1426 |
Kasuri warns against extremists designs
WASHINGTON, June 10: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has suggested taking the Pakistan-India process forward at a greater speed so that it is not “hijacked” by extremists.
Mr Kasuri said that reaction of Hindu extremists to Indian opposition leader L.K. Advani’s positive remarks about the Qaud-i-Azam showed that such elements would “go to any length to destroy the peace process.”
Warning that such tendencies could hurt the process, Mr Kasuri said: “We must guard against that.”
Mr Kasuri told a gathering at Washington’s Brooking’s Institution on Thursday that Mr Advani’s visit had helped the ongoing peace process between Pakistan and India.
”His comments gave greater permanence to the peace process. Conclusion is that India and Pakistan must continue with the peace process at a greater speed so that it does not get hijacked by extremists.”
Challenge in improving relations with India and resolution of all outstanding issues was Kashmir, he said, adding that a promising start had been made but it had to be pursued.
“For a durable peace between Pakistan and India, Kashmir issue needs to be resolved,” he said. “It is self-evident that for this to happen, the people of Kashmir have to be involved in the peace process”, the foreign minister said.
He also identified differences between India and Pakistan over Baglihar and Kishenganga projects as other emerging issues.
ARMS IMBALANCE: He said Pakistan was prepared for a mutual and balanced reduction of armed forces with India but it could not be unilateral.
Today, he said, both India and Pakistan are confident that neither country is in a position to inflict a military decision on the other. That, more than anything else, is bringing realism into play, he added.
Mr Kasuri observed that “continued interest of the United States is essential if momentum for resolving India-Pakistan issues is not to be lost.”
Welcoming Washington’s decision to sell surveillance planes and F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, the foreign minister said if there was an arms imbalance between India and Pakistan, it will be a source of instability in the region. “Our approach is basically of a defensive nature.”
GAS PIPELINE: Mr Kasuri assured New Delhi that Pakistan would not stand in its way to meet its energy needs and would allow pipelines to be laid over its territory to carry oil or gas to India.
“An energy corridor between Iran and India will be a significant confidence-building measure between the two countries,” he said.
He expressed hope that the US administration would also look at the proposed pipeline from a similar perspective. He added this was one of the three projects — the other two being the Turkmenistan-Pakistan pipeline and the Qatar-Pakistan-India pipeline — aimed at inter-country conveyance of fuel.
UN REFORMS: Replying to a question on Pakistan’s position on the United Nations Security Council reforms, Mr Kasuri said, “Pakistan’s policy on this issue is not India-specific but based on certain principles.”
He said the UN reforms had been long overdue but the debate over who should sit on the Security Council as its permanent member had “hijacked” the issue. He vehemently opposed the idea of any permanent members on the UNSC.
“Pakistan”, he declared, “is against the very idea of permanence and it is “reprehensible” because it goes against the principles of “sovereign equality.”
Pakistan’s approach, he said, was “holistic” and it believed that mandate of the UNSC members should be periodically reviewed by countries of the region in which the member states were situated.
CALIFORNIA ARRESTS: Answering a question on whether the two terror suspects arrested in California last weekend had received training at an al Qaeda camp in Pakistan, he emphatically said that there were no training camps in Pakistan.
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