Islamabad, October 29
Pakistan today gave broad acceptance to most of the 12-point Indian peace package, including the proposal for a bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad in PoK with a rider that UN officials should man the check-points on the Line of Control and people should travel on UN documents.
However, the real peace was possible only by resolving the Kashmir problem, Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar said describing it as a “cancerous and poisonous issue” between the two countries.
Announcing Islamabad’s point-by-point response to New Delhi’s October 22 offer, he told a press conference that Pakistan agreed to hold technical-level talks with New Delhi on resumption of air links between the two countries on December 1 and 2 but made it clear that it could not be linked to resumption of rail links.
Pakistan’s response was handed over to the Indian High Commissioner, Mr Shivshankar Menon, who was invited to the Foreign Office by Mr Khokhar shortly before he addressed the press conference.
“We have carefully studied the Indian proposals and have decided to respond positively. We hope that India would also respond positively to Pakistani proposals,” he said.
Suggesting technical-level talks on restoration of Samjhauta Express in the first half of December, he said “We believe that immediate resumption of the Samjhauta Express would serve the purpose of what India call people-to-people contacts”.
He, however, made it clear, “We do not accept any linkage between air links and talks on resumption of train services”.
Acknowledging that the Indian proposals had created some “excitement” in world capitals and figured in the telephone talk between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri yesterday, Mr Khokhar said the “time has come for the two countries to indulge in serious negotiations.
“We are clear in our mind. We want to improve our relations with India but this is going to be on the basis of dignity and honour.”
In a move directly aimed at people of Jammu and Kashmir, he said, “Pakistan will offer 100 scholarship for Kashmiri students to study in professional institutions at graduate and post-graduate level.”
It would also offer treatment for disabled Kashmiris and would assist and help “widows and victims of rape, affected by the various operations launched by the security agencies”.
He said Pakistan accepted “positively” Indian proposals like establishment of contacts between Coast Gaurds of the two countries and permission to senior citizens above 65 years to cross Wagah border on foot.
He said that Pakistan would like International right groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to get access to deserving Kashmiris to avail the facilities offered by Islamabad.
“We hope India will allow the Kashmiris to accept the offer we have made.”
Mr Khokhar, known as “India hawk”, for his strong statements during his tenure as Pakistan High Commissioner to New Delhi, however, linked India’s proposals to run additional bus services from Khkrapar in Pakistan to Munabow in Rajasthan and a ferry service between Mumbai and Karachi to resumption of composite dialogue to resolve Kashmir and other issues.
On the key Indian proposal to start bus services between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), Mr Khokhar said Pakistan was agreeable to that if it was run under the auspices of UN with UN staff manning check points and passengers travelled with UN documents.
Asked whether Pakistan was effectively scuttling the longstanding demand of the Kashmiris to travel on both sides by asking for UN supervision, Mr Khokhar denied it was doing so.
“We are not scuttling it. We are serious,” he said adding that if India was serious they should accept it. Moreover, he said the UN role would ensure that only genuine people travelled in the bus.
On India’s proposal for reviving sporting contacts, Mr Khokhar said, “We welcome it, including cricket...actually the proposal was made by Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali”.
Referring to other Indian proposals, he suggested restoring the strength of the staff of the High Commissions in each country to 110 as it existed before December, 2001, accepted the idea of opening visa offices in different cities outside the two capitals but only after the availability of requisite staff.
— PTI
