ISLAMABAD, Aug 10: Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri on Thursday sounded cautiously optimistic about the future of the Pakistan-India peace process and shrugged off the doomsday scenario being projected in the media.
“I don’t agree with the reports being circulated by the doomsday brigade,” Mr Kasuri said when this correspondent drew his attention to a string of reports suggesting that all was bleak on the Pakistan-India front.
Mr Kasuri, who had a 45-minute meeting with Indian High Commissioner Shiv Shankar Menon at the Foreign Office on Monday, dispelled the notion that ceasefire on the Line of Control and other Kashmir-related CBMs were under threat.
Terming the LoC ceasefire one of the biggest achievements under the confidence building between Pakistan and India, he saw no reason for it to be under threat. “Well, that’s not my impression. I don’t think at this point it is being feared.”
He hastened to add: “I have not heard from anybody responsible in the two countries talking about undoing what has been done so far.”
Mr Kasuri refused to comment on his meeting with the Indian High Commissioner whom he had apparently called to get a sense of the direction of the dialogue process in the wake of India’s belligerent posturing towards Pakistan. However, he indirectly conveyed that India also seemed committed to it.
While conceding that the peace process was not easy, he underlined that it required patience and steadfastness.
However, he expressed disappointment at the fact that while both the countries had moved ahead in confidence-building measures, there had been no movement on conflict resolution.
He said Pakistan understood that the Indian government had to put off the foreign secretary-level talks due to domestic political compulsions after the Mumbai blasts.
Responding to a question he said: “The Government of Pakistan would like to carry this process forward but now the ball is in the Indian court as they have to give us the new dates for the talks.”
Mr Kasuri emphasised that there was a large peace constituency in both the countries and the peace process enjoyed bipartisan political support on both sides.
The foreign minister termed the tit-for-tat expulsion of Indian and Pakistani diplomats last week as unfortunate but was of the view that it should not interfere with the peace process.
MENON: When contacted by Dawn, Indian High Commissioner Menon sounded visibly irked by the media ringing alarm bells about the peace process that kicked off in February 2004.
Mr Menon saw no reason for the sudden panic over the Indo-Pakistan peace process and maintained that things had been blown out of proportion.
In a jibe at what he referred to as the industry of self-fulfilling prophecies, Mr Menon said: “First, such euphoria was created and now this doomsday scenario. There’s need for some sense of proportion. The Indian High Commissioner failed to understand why the postponement of just one meeting had created such despondency and panic.”
“We both have leadership that sincerely wants the peace process to succeed,” he noted, dispelling the impression that there was a breakdown in the dialogue.
He remained noncommittal on the question of when India was expected to give new dates of the foreign-secretary-level talks, and left it at: “We’ll see.”
When asked if things on India-Pakistan were as bleak as they appeared, his response was an emphatic no. “I’m always positive,” he said.
When further questioned about the prospects of the peace dialogue he said: “There is always hope.”
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