Sunday, May 18, 2003
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By B. Muralidhar Reddy
At a meeting organised by the Urdu daily Jang in London late last night, on his way back from the United States, the Minister said that "it takes two to tango. It takes two hands to clap". According to the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), state-run news agency, Mr. Kasuri said that Pakistan wanted to begin the peace process in the region but Kashmir would be "an integral part of the dialogue". Reiterating Pakistan's commitment to a "composite and sustained" dialogue with India, he said it would be a continuous process. On Islamabad's recent offer for de-nuclearisation of South Asia, he said there would be no unilateral rollback of the country's nuclear programme as the perceived threat to its security was "real and not imaginary". "Let me say categorically there will be no unilateral rollback of Pakistan's nuclear programme," he told the gathering. Pakistan's threat perception to its security from India was "not based on absence of facts as we have fought three wars". Although India had rejected Islamabad's offer of nuclear disarmament, Pakistan was ready to do so if New Delhi did the same. India rejected the proposal on the ground that while the Pakistan's nuclear programme was India-specific, its n-programme was not Pakistan-specific. The Minister hoped India would opt for a fast-track approach in the talks. He told a questioner that the U.S. had added a "positive input", in cooling off the tensions between the two countries. Washington wanted the two countries to adopt a "reasonable posture". Pakistan was keen on seeing the region prosper economically. That would be possible when foreign investors were attracted to the region to alleviate poverty, he said and maintained that such a goal could only be realised through a durable peace by solving all outstanding problems including Kashmir. Pointing out that the settlement of Kashmir issue in line with the Kashmiris' aspirations was necessary for lasting peace, the Minister said he had made this clear during his talks with the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage. Neither side should attach any pre-conditions to the talks and it would better if they could pick up the thread where they left to make their negotiations productive, he said. "It is far better not to start thinking of details of the solution" of Kashmir, he told a questioner. "Let the dialogue start. Let us approach the talks in a positive spirit." On Indian allegations of "cross-border terrorism" he said Pakistan was trying its "best to control the incursions". Whenever this question was raised with him at the international level, he had told his interlocutors that when a suicide bomber undertook a "mission", he did not take permission from any one. The only way to check such tendency was to give some hope to the people of Kashmir by opening a meaningful dialogue. Pakistan did have influence with the people of Kashmir but "we cannot dictate them, they don't take dictation from us", he said.
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