‘India, Pak should think out of box to resolve Kashmir issue’

Saturday, July 12, 2008 at 8:07 am

Observing that time has come for India and Pakistan to get out of the cycle of hostility and mutual suspicion, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi today said both the countries should think “out of the box” to find a solution to the Kashmir issue.

“We have to look out of the box. We have to look at innovative ways of resolution. We have our minds open to such issues,” he said referring to Kashmir issue.

Qureshi was delivering a lecture at the Brookings Institution where he touched upon the current state of relations with India.

“It is now our hope that the leadership of the two countries would not shy away from taking such steps and move beyond the CBMs to engaging in a serious dialogue to address the real issues, not only the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir,” Qureshi said.

“Pakistan has shown flexibility and has emphasised the need for out of box thinking. There is a general feeling and a public perception in Pakistan that a matching response should come from India,” he added.

Qureshi said India-Pakistan dialogue should “now move from resolving conflicts rather than lingering with them”.

Replying to question on whether the Kashmir issue could be sorted out by the two countries in the next three to five years, Qureshi said it is a long standing dispute where there are no quick fixes or solutions.

“We have to be honest. We have to be realistic. But the issue needs to be addressed. We cannot keep it under the carpet indefinitely,” he said.

“That is why we are building an environment of confidence for any resolution. But the most important thing is trust, belief. And that is what we are trying to do,” he said.

The Pakistani Foreign Minister, while appreciating the role of Washington in encouraging the peace process in South Asia, also called for an American engagement.

“We appreciate the constructive role the US has played in encouraging the peace process in South Asia. But its role should not remain confined to conflict management and should also extend to facilitating conflict resolution,” Qureshi said.

“We have seen in the past democracy in Pakistan has invariably led to a better relationship between the two countries. Both Pakistan and India have posted their highest rates of growth in the region in the last several years and their economic performance has been startling,” Qureshi added.

He said better diplomatic, cultural and trade relations will only help boost bilateral ties between the two countries.

“However given the past history of distrust dramatic changes cannot be expected very quickly but the trend is certainly positive and is likely to continue in the new government. My recent visit to New Delhi was a step forward in this direction,” the Foreign Minister remarked.

“We have introduced through this composite dialogue a number of Kashmir related CBMs. That has given confidence, facilitated people from both sides to be given greater access; thinking of enhanced trade across the LoC ;and more movement other than the CBMs we are talking about,” Qureshi said.

“Dialogue is important but we have to make this result oriented. It has to be meaningful because if we do not make it result oriented then people who advocate dialogue will lose faith in dialogue,” Qureshi said.

“But if fail to deliver we will slide back to a sad situation which we do not want,” he added.

(Agencies)

( This post is from an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by APakistanNews.Com.)

‘India, Pak should think out of box to resolve Kashmir issue’

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