ISLAMABAD, April 20: Pakistan on Wednesday asked India to stop construction work on the controversial Baglihar project if it was sincere in resolving the dispute. Speaking at his weekly press briefing here, Foreign Office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said the World Bank would soon appoint its neutral mediator to help resolve the issue.
He said India wanted to resolve the matter bilaterally but Pakistan did not agree because Islamabad had exhausted all options to find a settlement through bilateral talks before approaching the World Bank as a last resort under the Indus Waters Treaty.
However, the spokesman said, even now if India stopped work on the dam, Pakistan was willing to consider the Indian proposal for bilateral talks.
The Kishanganga project being executed in occupied Kashmir was another violation of the treaty, the spokesman said and added that Pakistan was taking necessary steps under the treaty and an Indian experts team was expected here soon to hold talks under article 9l of the treaty.
Mr Jilani said Pakistan had taken the step so that if no agreement was reached between the two sides it would have the option of moving the World Bank.
JOINT STATEMENT: About the joint statement issued after President Pervez Musharraf’s meeting with Indian leaders, the spokesman said it was a ‘landmark statement’ both because of its contents and the wide scope of issues that came under discussions.
He said the meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was ‘very significant’ and it provided them an opportunity for engagement in a very conducive (political and diplomatic) atmosphere on all issues that had bedevilled their relations.
Mr Jilani made the observation while refuting a remark by a reporter that cynics considered the statement as ‘a document of surrender’.
The spokesman said there were no differences on ‘the basics’ in the position taken by President Musharraf in his New Delhi meetings on the Kashmir dispute and that of most of APHC leaders, and recalled that the president had taken into confidence these leaders on issues which had been discussed with the Indian side.
Most of the APHC leaders endorsed the ongoing peace process, implementation of the confidence-building measures like the opening of road communications, running of buses across the LoC in addition to the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route, though there could be differences among Kashmiris on ‘trivial matters’, such as a suggestion to set up border meeting points for relatives from the two sides, he said.
Mr Jilani laid particular emphasis on the fact that during his meetings with Kashmiri leaders in New Delhi the president had clearly brought out the fact that he had maintained the centrality of the settlement of the Kashmir issue as vital in any durable rapprochement and peace in South Asia.
The spokesman told a questioner that the issue of denuclearization in the context of Kashmir issue had been a subject in discussion between Pakistan and India in all bilateral interactions.
He said discussions on withdrawal of troops from Siachen and removal of sticking points in Sir Creek had also been held with a positive outcome expected in near future.
Responding to a question about the kidnapped embassy staffer Javed Malik in Iraq, the spokesman said the government was keen for safe and early recovery of Mr Malik who, according to information, was safe and well. There was no let-up in Pakistan’s effort to secure the release of Mr Malik, he added.