ISLAMABAD, 5 September 2004 — A day ahead of a composite dialogue with his Indian counterpart Natwar Shingh on contentious issues including Kashmir, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri said yesterday “it is time to fix things”.
“Our dialogue should be guided by the compass of results. We must know where we are going,” Kasuri said before leaving for New Delhi for the two-day talks starting today.
The top diplomats of both countries met in New Delhi yesterday and discussed ways to take the peace process forward.
Kasuri stressed the importance of the Kashmir issue and regretted the South Asian neighbors have been unable to resolve it.
“It is regrettable that we have not been able to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute that has, in the past, kept us in a state of tension and flux,” Kasuri said.
The talks in New Delhi will be the first ministerial-level talks on Kashmir between the nuclear-armed rivals in three years and are a culmination of months of confidence-building measures.
Kasuri said Pakistan and India have the genius to resolve the festering dispute. “We also have statesmanship on both sides to resolve all outstanding issues,” he said.
“It is time that we refuse to go through the familiar cyclical pattern of peaks and troughs, dialogue and conflict. It is time to fix things. ... What we need is a clear vision for our future generations. Most importantly, we need the courage and boldness to realize this vision,” he said.
Kasuri reiterated Pakistan’s position that the people of Kashmir must be allowed to vote whether to join India or Pakistan under the 1948 UN Security Council resolutions.
“We should give the Kashmiris the choice to determine their own future. This choice should have been given to them in August 1947. But, 57 years later, we are still at the starting line.”
Kasuri said Kashmiris should be included in the dialogue between India and Pakistan.
“I want to assure Kashmiris that they would not be marginalized. We want to persuade India to associate them with our dialogue,” he said.
“Their association would add substance and meaning to the dialogue.”
He was convinced the resolution of the Kashmir issue would cascade other related and residual issues into speedy solutions.
“I am going to Delhi with full confidence. I will engage my counterpart on all issues,” Kasuri said.
“I can say confidently that Kashmir is not an intractable problem. It only requires political will for its solution.”
The dispute over Kashmir, divided since 1948 between the neighbors and claimed by both, is at the core of more than half a century of tensions and has caused two of their three wars.
India’s Singh warned Thursday against expecting any “spectacular breakthrough or a dramatic breakdown” in the talks.
— Additional input from agencies
