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| June 20, 2006 | Tuesday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 23, 1427 |
Kasuri urges settlement of Kashmir for peace
BAKU, June 19: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri on Monday said Pakistan wanted a negotiated settlement of the Kashmir dispute, acceptable to the people of Kashmir and also to Pakistan and India.
Addressing the 33rd OIC foreign ministers’ meeting, Mr Kasuri acknowledged some progress in the composite dialogue with India on various confidence building measures, but regretted that so far, the two countries had not been able to resolve any outstanding dispute including Kashmir.
Mr Kasuri also expressed gratitude to the Islamic countries who stood by Pakistan in supporting the right to self-determination by the Kashmiri people.
He said the OIC had also welcomed Pakistan’s efforts to resolve this dispute through dialogue with India in a just and equitable manner.
Mr Kasuri also welcomed the appointment of Ambassador Ezzat Kamil Mufti as special representative of the secretary-general OIC on Jammu and Kashmir.
He expressed the hope that the appointment would facilitate implementation of OIC’s decisions on Jammu and Kashmir and an early resolution of the dispute.
He said Pakistan’s case rested on international legitimacy and the United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The FM briefed his counterparts from the member states that Pakistan and India were now in the third round of their composite dialogue, in a time span of two years.
He said Pakistan was sincere in finding a negotiated settlement to the dispute and pointed that so far the two sides had not been able to resolve any outstanding disputes, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr Kasuri said Pakistan attached great importance to its relations with Afghanistan, that were based on deep-rooted bonds of culture and common faith, history and heritage.
He said a peaceful and stable Afghanistan was a pre-requisite for regional peace and development. If Afghanistan suffered, so would Pakistan, and Afghanistan’s progress was a common interest. Pakistan, therefore, supported the Bonn Process and the Afghanistan Pact, Kasuri added.—APP
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