ISLAMABAD, Nov 15: Signalling that all is not well on the Pakistan-India front, Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri made it clear to the visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca that durable peace could not be achieved in the region without the settlement of all outstanding disputes, including Jammu and Kashmir.
The foreign minister made this declaration when Ms Rocca called on him at the Foreign Office here on Tuesday afternoon.
Notably the Rocca-Kasuri meeting took place on the heels of talks between Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and his Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh on the margins of the 13th Saarc summit.
During the meeting there was a detailed discussion on the ongoing composite dialogue process between India and Pakistan that enters its third round in January 2006.
According to an official statement issued later while there was recognition of the fact that the dialogue process had improved the general atmosphere between the two countries and resulted in a number of CBMs, the foreign minister underlined: “For durable peace in the region, it is essential that efforts aimed at addressing the outstanding issues, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, are made to reach a settlement, which is acceptable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan and India.”
Drawing Ms Rocca’s attention to the South Asian security milieu, the foreign minister emphasised that maintenance of minimum credible defence was a security compulsion for Pakistan, the statement said.
The foreign minister also briefed Ms Rocca on the deliberations of the Saarc summit in Dhaka, particularly the landmark decision to admit Afghanistan as a new member of the organization and China and Japan as observers.
Earlier, the foreign minister expressed appreciation for the support that Pakistan had received from the US government and people in the relief and recovery efforts.
Mr Kasuri also thanked Ms Rocca for the US assistance, which has now been cleared by the US Congress. As a result of this, a total assistance of $698 million for Pakistan has been approved for the year 2005. This includes foreign military financing, economic support, development assistance, health support and other sectors.
“This reflected the commitment of the two sides to a multi-faceted, long-term cooperation in various fields, the two sides agreed,” a Foreign Office statement said.