JAKARTA, 3 July 2004 — Pakistan was formally accepted yesterday as the 24th member of Asia’s only security forum, in a move that could lessen tensions in the region and with fellow nuclear power India.
India had earlier dropped its opposition to Pakistan’s entry into the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) after Pakistan gave assurances it would not raise bilateral issues like Kashmir in the forum.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Kurshid Kasuri welcomed his country’s accession to the grouping, which represents all the world’s major powers, but said it should not be seen in the context of relations with India.
But he told reporters he would continue to maintain dialogue with his Indian counterpart Natwar Singh.
The real challenge, he said, was for diplomats of both sides to come forward with an acceptable solution involving the people of Kashmir. “I don’t want to go into specific solutions. It’s not really going to be productive in terms of bringing about a solution to the dispute if we start talking about it (in the media),” Kasuri said.
“Pakistan and India should try to resolve issues peacefully because too much is at stake, both are nuclear powers, both have the means to deliver nuclear weapons.
“It is eminently sensible for them to do so (resolve issues). One-third of the world’s poor after all do live in South Asia and it’s largely because of continuing and persisting tension between Pakistan and India,” he said. “I think both governments realize the need to resolve the Kashmir issue,” Kasuri said.
He said his country’s inclusion in ARF was a recognition “that Pakistan is playing a very important role, not just in promoting stability in the Islamic world but also in regional and international peace.”
Delegates at yesterday’s meeting agreed with Pakistan’s statement that there was a need for the international community to engage the Islamic world and understand the root causes of terrorism.
ARF links the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with 13 other Asia-Pacific states and the European Union.
Japan and Pakistan later signed a “treaty of amity and cooperation” with the ASEAN. The treaty already governs relations among the 10 ASEAN members — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. China and India signed the pact with ASEAN last October.
“Today is a very important and rather historic day between ASEAN and Japan,” said Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima after Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi signed the document.
