Oct 11 , 2015

News

PM-level talks should not take place without preparations, says Kasuri
Former minister suggests secret back-channel parleys

File photo of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at Ufa.
NEW DELHI – Former foreign affairs minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri has said that summit talks between prime ministers of Pakistan and India should not take place without any proper preparations.

“The only way to end the post-Ufa deadlock is to begin secret back-channel parleys,” he told the Press Trust of India news service. He said that the secret talks should be conducted in the same way both sides very nearly finalised a formula for resolving the Jammu Kashmir issue between 2004 and 2007.

Asserting that Pakistan and India should first remove the intense mutual antagonism to improve strained ties, he said a gag order must be imposed by their prime ministers against those in the establishment making inflammatory comments against each other.

Days after his book – Neither A Hawk Nor A Dove – hit the stands in India, Kasuri stated the back-channel peace talks around eight years ago had the endorsement of the military and its establishment, asserting that it was time both the sides grow up and resolve the issue.

Kasuri, who was foreign affairs minister between 2002 and 2007, called Narendra Modi’s invitation to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for his swearing-in ceremony last year and seeking a meeting with him at Ufa as a positive signal in approaching the Kashmir issue.

– Shaking hands, smiling and a cup of tea –

“High-level meetings, summit-level meetings should never take place without proper preparations. There was no homework done for Ufa. It is better that these meetings do not take place. I am in favour of shaking hands, smiling, even a cup of tea in front of cameras without serious talks,” Kasuri said.

In his 850-page book, Kasuri details the contours of what he stated the possible settlement of Kashmir issue which he said included its demilitarisation, self-governance and setting up of a joint mechanism through which people on both the sides can cooperate with each other. “There has been no authentication yet by the Indian side about Kasuri’s claim,” the Indian media reported.

Kasuri said that it took almost three years to persuade the army and its establishment about the settlement on Kashmir and they as an institution decided to back it while saying that the perception that the army does not want resolution of the lingering issue was not correct. “I made sure that papers were delivered to President Asif Ali Zardari,” he said.

– Aggressive comments against each other –

Talking about current state of ties between Pakistan and India, he said that both the sides must traverse the peace path and open unbounded opportunities for their people. Referring to aggressive comments against each other in the wake of tensions along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary in recent months, Kasuri said both the prime ministers must apply a gag order and that only the two premiers should talk.

“They should ask people who know nothing to keep quite. It is not their business to talk,” he said, adding relationship of antagonism should be removed. The former minister also hoped that the Indian prime minister would adopt a pragmatic approach in resolving the Kashmir issue, rejecting apprehension in some quarters in Pakistan that he could adopt an aggressive attitude.

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

Back to Top