ISLAMABAD, Feb 6: The Foreign Office on Monday expressed the hope that India-Pakistan peace process would speed up and underscored the need for addressing the Kashmir dispute in a forthright manner with sincerity, flexibility and courage.
Addressing a weekly news briefing Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said: “We do hope to see progress and we have repeatedly said that this dispute (Kashmir) requires sincerity, flexibility and courage and the leadership of Pakistan has shown courage.”
She mentioned that President Musharraf had on Sunday welcomed Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement on finding a “pragmatic and practical” solution to all outstanding problems between India and Pakistan, including the Kashmir issue.
Referring to the Indian prime minister’s statement about not having any mandate to negotiate transfer of Indian territory, her response was: “Certainly, nobody is asking for the transfer of Indian territory.”
The spokesperson did not give a direct answer when asked if Pakistan believed that the Kashmir dispute had entered into a resolution phase and merely reiterated the need for addressing the dispute in a “very forthright” manner. “We also believe that we should proceed with a resolution that is acceptable to all the three stakeholders,” she added.
On India’s announcement of withdrawal of troops from Kashmir, she said: “We have seen the press reports although we have no confirmed information about this … If this is part of significant reduction in Indian presence in the Indian occupied Kashmir, we would then welcome it.”
She said so far, nothing had been formally conveyed to Pakistan in this regard.
She referred to the president’s statement that Pakistan was disappointed that the progress in the talks on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute had not been upto its expectations. However, she said: “But, it doesn’t mean there has been no progress and we don’t have any hope.” She expressed the hope that the peace process would pick up speed.
The spokesperson maintained that the international community was engaged on the issue.
VISA CAMP OFFICES: The Foreign Office spokesperson was non-committal when asked if Pakistan was considering the Indian proposal of opening visa camp offices in Karachi and Mumbai. Confirming that Pakistan had received the proposal, she said: “We have an agreement on opening the consulates-general and on our part we will continue efforts to make sure that we are in a position to open our consulate-general in Mumbai at the earliest.”
Short of ruling out the opening of visa offices, she said: “Opening the visa offices would have been a possibility when there was no decision to open the two consulate-generals.”
Asked if she was completely ruling out the possibility of visa camps, she said: “I did not rule it out but I said we have an agreement on consulates.”
She said Pakistan was disappointed on the consulate issue because it had a deal all worked out and then at the last moment it fizzled out. “Naturally we are upset, we are not blaming anyone but here we have a situation with which we have to deal,” she told a questioner.
Ms Aslam downplayed the Indian president’s reported statement about the possibility of some sort of federation between Pakistan and India in the next 50 years. She said: “We have not seen any authentic statement. There have been media speculations about what the Indian president said.” She specifically referred to one version that said the Indian president maintained he was not talking about integration but European Union type cooperation.
BALOCHISTAN: The spokesperson said Pakistan had evidence of a “foreign hand” behind the Balochistan situation. When asked about the source of arms and ammunition being used by the insurgents, she hinted at foreign financing but did not specify.
She said President Musharraf had never commented on Iran’s policy or said that Iran was engaged in making nuclear weapons. She said: “Iran has certain obligations as a member of the NPT and at the same time Iran also has certain rights.”
PAK-SAUDI ARABIA: She said during the Saudi king’s visit to Pakistan, there had been no bilateral agreement on energy but said: “We already have a very good understanding and our oil imports from Saudi Arabia are the highest.” The spokesperson said that it was unnecessary to compare Pakistan’s relationship with Saudi Arabia to any other country, saying: “We have our own relationship … and as His Majesty King Abdullah himself said that it transcends the normal bilateral relationship, it’s a very special relationship.”
BLASPHEMOUS CARICATURES: She said at the moment, there was no decision to recall Pakistan’s envoys from various European countries where blasphemous caricatures defiling Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) had been published and reprinted.
The spokesperson disagreed with the view that the Muslim world had overreacted on this issue saying: “This is an issue on which there can be no overreaction. Of course, we are not in favour of people resorting to violence but naturally the entire Muslim world is very dismayed … and we all condemn it.” She said: “This is not something that is acceptable on the pretext of press freedom.”
Commenting on the statement by the Danish newspaper that had first published the caricature that had it known that it would evoke such a strong reaction, the newspaper would not have published it, she said: “Either they are very insensitive or they are very ignorant.” She said Pakistan had lodged a protest immediately after it learnt about the caricatures last September.
KARZAI’S VISIT: Referring to Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s visit to Pakistan next week, the spokesperson said: “I would not like to prejudge the agenda of the discussions between our leadership and the Afghan president.” On concerns expressed by the Afghan President about security situation, she said: “We are prepared to intensify our existing cooperation with Afghanistan. At the same time we hope that there will be matching security effort from the Afghan side as well.”
Ms Aslam said Pakistan had captured more than 700 militants. Asked if all the 700-plus captured militants had been handed over to the US authorities, she said, she would have to check on the exact number.
BANGLADESH PM: At the outset of the press briefing, Ms Aslam announced the official visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to Pakistan from Feb 12-14. “During the visit, several agreements and MoUs will be signed,” the spokesperson said.
