WASHINGTON, June 22: Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri has said that the government had initiated dialogue with former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, but Mr Sharif did not respond.
Talking to Washington’s think-tank experts at a select gathering, Mr Kasuri said that former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, unlike his brother, was more responsive.
He was not only willing to talk but was also ready for a working arrangement with the government but the former prime minister rejected such overtures.
Mr Kasuri said that Ms Bhutto was still negotiating with the government, although both sides were far from an understanding.
The foreign minister said it was not just the opposition parties that were urging President Pervez Musharraf to give up his military position; some in his cabinet also had given similar suggestions.
“Whatever decision the president takes, it will be in the larger interests of the country,” he added.
Mr Kasuri surprised many with his frank and straightforward answers and later earned a standing ovation from the audience.
When someone asked him why people in Pakistan reacted so strongly to the British decision to knight author Salman Rushdie, Mr Kasuri said: “How would you react, if we honour Osama bin Laden? We are all hurt, every Muslim. I would be lying if I do not say that.”
Later, when a member of the audience objected to the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, Mr Kasuri said he did not understand this attitude.
“Half of Karachi plunges into darkness every night. There are rolling blackouts all over the country. But you do not want us to build the pipeline. We cannot have nuclear power either. So what do we do? Where do we go?”
At one stage, Thomas Pickering, a former deputy secretary of state, hinted that Pakistan was still allowing Taliban extremists to cross into Afghanistan because it wanted a pro-Islamabad government in Kabul for strategic reasons.
Mr Kasuri strongly rejected this suggestion, saying that there were no reasons for Pakistan to support the Taliban.
“This theory of strategic depth is an outdated idea. Can F-16s be hidden in Afghanistan? What good the Taliban have done for us? They are hurting our economic interests.”
But he conceded that Pakistan had no succeeded in completely sealing the Afghan border because it was almost impossible to do so.
“But Mr Pickering, how long you took to find Zarqawi with 150,000 troops in Iraq? Despite all efforts, you have not sealed your border with Mexico and the Mexicans are not half as hostile as those who cross the Afghan border,” said Mr Kasuri.
“Tell me Mr Pickering what motive we have for supporting the Taliban,” he asked. “You have not lost your touch, rather you have regained the touch of your youth,” Mr Pickering responded.
