COLOMBO, Sept 15: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri said on Monday that the dispute with India over Kashmir was a “cancerous sore” that was holding back economic progress for both countries and ties between them were likely to get worse if they did not meet.

He told newsmen that the dispute was an international issue and had frozen development in both countries.

He said other than parts of sub-Saharan Africa, “South Asia may have the dubious distinction of probably having the worst socio-economic indicators in the world”.

He asked India for a “serious suggestion” to jointly combat terror, especially in Kashmir, cautioning New Delhi against mere “point scoring.”

He said Islamabad was ready to discuss “all issues of concern to India and Pakistan” and wanted New Delhi to agree to go to the negotiating table. Mr Kasuri played down Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha’s weekend call to Pakistan to join New Delhi in its battle against “terror.”

He told the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Sri Lanka that it was not the first time that India was issuing such calls without doing anything to initiate a dialogue.

“If the foreign minister of India is making a serious suggestion, let’s start talking,” Mr Kasuri said. “If he is just making a point, that is not desirable. Point scoring will not get India and Pakistan anywhere,” he said.

He said Indo-Pakistan relations had affected the functioning of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc).

“We are quite prepared to talk and cooperate with India in all matters. Let’s start talking,” he said and added that at the moment “we don’t even attend Saarc conferences.”

“We have to talk on all issues concerning India and Pakistan,” he said.

He repeated a suggestion made last week in Kathmandu that Saarc observers could be posted in Kashmir to verify Indian claims that Pakistan was funnelling over Islamic rebels.

“We can’t have India in the position of accuser, prosecutor and judge. Let us invite outsiders. They can be Saarc observers,” he said and added that Pakistan was ready for international “mediation” or “facilitation” over Kashmir.

He said Saarc had failed its people because it had become a hostage of Indo-Pakistan relations.

He charged that Indo-Pakistan relations, in turn, had become a hostage of India’s domestic politics and said South Asia could learn from the successes of the Association of South-East Asian Nations.—Reuters/AFP