KATMANDU, 14 September 2003 — Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmoud Kasuri yesterday called for the creation of a regional force to control militancy in disputed Kashmir state, divided between India and Pakistan.
“Pakistan is ready to maintain a peacekeeping force from the SAARC region in the disputed areas of Kashmir to curb and monitor cross-border terrorism,” Kasuri told an interactive program involving Nepalese businesspeople, industrialists, journalists and intellectuals.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) formed in 1985 groups Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, India and Bhutan.
Kasuri who arrived here Friday on the second leg of a swing through three SAARC countries which also includes Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, handed over a letter of invitation from Pakistan’s prime minister to his Nepalese counterpart to attend a SAARC summit in Islamabad early next year.
He was received by King Gyanendra Friday evening and also held talks with Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, during which bilateral, socio-economic and regional issues were discussed, officials said.
“Terrorism is the common threat to all countries in the region and it can be controlled only if all the SAARC members work together,” Kasuri told yesterday’s gathering.
“Pakistan will do everything to contribute to the realization of this objective through the implementation of the SAARC convention on suppression of terrorism,” he said.
“The current burning problem of cross-border terrorism between Pakistan and India could be resolved through the effective implementation of the SAARC Convention,” he said.
Kasuri said he was confident of the success of the 12th SAARC summit scheduled in Islamabad for the first week of January, despite the fact India blames Pakistan for “all wrongdoings in India, including excessive rains and droughts.”
The summit was to have been held in Islamabad in January this year but India failed to confirm its attendance amid tensions with Pakistan.
With a thaw in relations since Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee offered a “hand of friendship” to Islamabad in April, Kasuri said he was now confident India would attend January’s meeting.
After Nepal he was to head for Sri Lanka, and once the UN General Assembly meeting in New York was over later this month, would also visit India, Bhutan and the Maldives to deliver the formal invitations from Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali.
