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ISLAMABAD, Oct 7: The Foreign Office on Friday tried to downplay remarks made by Minister for Kashmir Affairs and the Northern Areas, Faisal Saleh Hayat, on the proposals being considered to settle the Kashmir issue.
In two separate interviews, one to a local daily and other to an Indian paper (The Asian Age) this week, the minister had said several proposals were being discussed on Kashmir – including joint control over Kashmir by people from both sides of the divide, limited sovereignty and a devolution formula.
“The minister was probably referring to the speculations about the content of dialogue on Kashmir,” was the response of FO spokesperson Tasnim Aslam when her comments were sought on the proposals.
Stating that the dialogue was a continuous process, Ms Aslam said that any settlement of Kashmir issue would have to be acceptable to all the stakeholders — Pakistan, India and the people of Kashmir.
“At this moment, it is difficult to prejudge what that final settlement would be,” she said when asked on which solution consensus seemed to be emerging.
This is the first time that the minister for Kashmir affairs has spoken on-record and so explicitly on the proposals being discussed on Kashmir. He is the first to do so after President Musharraf Gen Pervez Musharraf.
FAISAL SALEH: Mr Hayat, when contacted, said that brainstorming was continuing at political level on some seven or eight proposals, hinting that work was in progress through informal back-channel.
He termed as ‘incorrect’ part of a report in The Asian Age on Friday that had quoted him as saying that a delegation led by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed would be visiting Pakistan at government invitation sometime after the Eid.
The minister said that he had merely said that if Kashmiri leaders from other sides were interested in visiting Azad Jammu Kashmir and Pakistan, the government would welcome it in the spirit of promoting intra-Kashmiri dialogue.
He responded in affirmative when asked if such indications had been received from leaders across the Line of Control.
Referring to the national debate triggered by President Musharraf’s ‘food for thought’ on Kashmir last year, Mr Hayat said that all the stakeholders from both sides of the divide needed to be involved in the dialogue process.
He conceded that Pakistan and India were now moving beyond the United Nations’ resolutions and said that the leaders of the two countries had been advocating ‘out of the box’ thinking.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that having received positive signals from Islamabad, the Kashmiri leaders on the other side are finalizing the composition of a delegation that would visit Pakistan.
According to informed sources, the visit will come before the year’s end and the delegation will be led by the president of the ruling party in held Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti, and include Omar Abdullah.
FO ON GEELANI: Pakistan on Friday expressed concern over death threats to senior All Parties Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and called for necessary steps to ensure his security.
