March 26, 2006	Sunday	Safar 25, 1427

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LAHORE, March 25: Welcming Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s statement about relations with Pakistan, Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri has said that the time has come to resolve the issues of Siachen, Sir Creek and even Baglihar dam as early as possible.

Talking to newsmen after addressing a conference at Palm Golf Club here on Saturday on global corporate response to the South Asian earthquake, he said composite dialogue, which had entered its third year, had made progress as was evident from the fact there had been many confidence-building measures between the two countries like train and bus services. There had also been Kashmir-specific CBMs like the bus service between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar allowing people from both sides of the Line of Control to travel on ‘non-conventional’ documents, he said.

The CBMs were aimed at creating an environment for genuine understanding of the issues, he said, adding that Pakistan had also opened five points for crossing on the LoC. “What is required now is that India should also open its heart.” He said people were facing certain difficulties because of the bureaucratic mindset of Indian authorities.

He said Pakistan could not be accused of focusing on the Kashmir issue only as it had been holding negotiations with India on many other bilateral issues, including Siachen and Sir Creek.

He said President Pervez Musharraf had emphasised the need for continuing the dialogue. A majority of people in both the countries wanted the peace process and composite dialogue to continue, he said.

The foreign minister said the leadership of both the countries should show statesmanship by taking difficult decisions to resolve bilateral issues.

Pakistan was also interested in resolving the Baglihar dam issue which had been referred to a neutral expert by the World Bank, he said. The solution would strengthen the efforts of the peace lobbies.

He said that while President Musharraf had put forward various proposals for resolving the Kashmir issue, there had been no response from India.

In reply to a question, he agreed that the pace of negotiations on Kashmir had been slow and needed to be accelerated. He said leaders of the All Parties’ Hurriyat Conference had held talks with the leaderships of both the countries.

Answering a question, Mr Kasuri denied existence of any terrorist training camp in Pakistan or Azad Kashmir. He said it was wrong to blame Pakistan for any act of violence occurring in India.