LAHORE, Jan 28: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri has said that Pakistan cannot do more than what it is already doing to stop alleged infiltration of terrorists into Afghanistan.

“Pakistan is making all possible efforts for checking the entry of unauthorised persons into Afghanistan. It cannot do more than what it is doing right now," he said in reply to a question from the audience at a seminar here on Sunday.

The seminar on ‘Pakistan's Relations with the United States and India' was organised by the Pakistan Thinkers’ Forum.

In his address at the seminar, Mr Kasuri said the government did not have the mandate to agree to a solution to the Kashmir issue against the consent of the people of Pakistan and the Kashmiris.

He said that drafts of proposals on Kashmir were being exchanged between India and Pakistan. The proposals were so far known to only five or six people in Pakistan, he said, adding that the opposition would be the first to be informed whenever an agreement was reached.

He said the Kashmir issue would be resolved with consensus and no decision would be taken against national interests. The proposed agreement would be first discussed in the cabinet and then taken to parliament for a debate, he added.

The foreign minister said that the settlement of the Kashmir dispute was in the interest of both India and Pakistan. Talks on the issue would not have been held over the past three years if it had not been in the interest of both the countries, he added.

He said that Pakistan and India were not doing a favour to anyone by holding negotiations on Kashmir. They had fought three wars and kept their armies deployed on the Line of Control for 30 years, he said, adding that they had now reached a conclusion that talks were the only way to resolve the issue.

He said that the progress made in the talks in the recent past had not been achieved during the past 60 years.

Mr Kasuri said that Pakistan and the US formulated their policies according to their own interests. Pakistan was making maximum efforts to check unauthorised entry of people into Afghanistan, but the US was saying that it was not doing enough.

He said Pakistan took decisions in its own interests and not in accordance with the US viewpoint. It had opposed military action against Iran and Iraq and called for a negotiated settlement of the Palestine issue.

When asked if Pakistan could accept the US demand to hand over Dr AQ Khan, he said that no decision would be taken on the issue against national honour.