PM renews Kashmir pullout offer to India
Suggests reducing trust deficit for productive talks

DHAKA—Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Sunday reiterated Pakistan’s proposal of de-militarisation of whole Kashmir region to help reduce the “trust deficit” between New Delhi and Islamabad and improve atmospherics in the region.
The Prime Minister linked the sustainable peace in the region to the resolution of the Kashmir dispute saying the progress on this decade long issue will influence progress on other issues and improve the long term relations between the two South Asian countries.
“Presence of thousands of troops on both sides creates an atmosphere that obstructs the move towards peace, “ Aziz told editors here at a breakfast meeting. The Prime Minister said presence of so many troops in the area has also led to human rights situation. “If we have to have an atmosphere of reconciliation, we will have to reduce presence of army on either side,” he said and added it would encourage the people of the area.
Talking to editors of dailies covering the 13th SAARC summit and the participants of South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA), Aziz agreed with a questioner that political tensions were impeding progress in the organization.
“Each country has to play its part to improve the atmospherics. The region is mired in conflict. Lets call a spade a spade. We need to take issues head-on and come up with solutions.” Referring to the 12th Islamabad Summit, the Prime Minister said it saw a change in terms of engaging and talking about the issues openly.
If the countries could settle the issues bilaterally the multilateral environment would also improve, he added. Responding to a question, he described Kashmir as the core issue between Pakistan and India, saying for sustainable peace the two countries must address the long-standing problem.
“We must make progress on Kashmir and then we can move on in parallel on other issues. We do not subscribe to the view that lets do everything else and Kashmir will resolve itself,” he added. He said Pakistan and India have held several meetings and would continue their discussions to resolve all of their outstanding issues.
“For sustainable peace in South Asia we must address the issue of Jammu and Kashmir as progress on the dispute would lead to progress on other issues and impact long term sustainable relations,” he added. He underlined that resolution of the Kashmir issue should be acceptable to all the stakeholders most importantly the people of Kashmir.
The Prime Minister, who was in the Bangladesh capital to participate in the summit of the seven regional countries, described his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as productive and timely.
“We had a frank and open discussion. I hope the trust deficit, by actions, of both countries would fade away,” he added. The Prime Minister said “Any amount of dialogue and discussions between the two countries can help. We want peace,  progress and cooperation with all countries. We discussed all the issues, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, trade, de-militarisation and self governance and both the countries were moving step by step in the right direction.” The Prime Minister also appreciated India’s assistance in earthquake.” About Pakistan’s contacts with Israel and President Musharraf’s address to the American-Jewish Congress, he said Islam supports inter-faith harmony and it believed that the initiative was aimed to attain a certain level of dialogue which can help some forward movement on the Palestinian issue. He, however, made it clear that the recognition of Israel can only be considered once the Palestinian issue was resolved. On Pakistan’s support on Afghanistan’s joining the forum as a full member and China’s request as dialogue partner or observer, he said Pakistan’s position was very clear on the matter.
“Pakistan believes in a policy of inclusiveness. Other countries have their own views,” he said while adding, Pakistan fully supports the inclusion of both Afghanistan, as member and China as dialogue partner or observer. When questioned about the issue of transit trade, he said in terms of economic activity, Pakistan was very open. He said goods destined for Afghanistan from India can go through Karachi port and there was no restriction. However, he added, land route was not available for transit of Indian goods to Afghanitan.
Terming it a complex problem he said the matter has to move in tandem with progress on the issue of Kashmir. “The plight of Kashmiris has to end,” he said and Added there was no restriction for Afghan goods heading for India. Prime Minister when asked whether the SAARC countries have agreed on a common definition of terrorism, said “we are all against terrorism, it is a global phenomenon, not an exclusive preserve of any geography, region or faith. There is no standard definition of terrorism,” he added. Aziz said “We believe the world needs to address the root causes of terrorism. Pakistan is opposed to terrorism and we are not in favour of any terrorist act anywhere in the world.” He said SAARC has tried to put all countries on a common platform and appreciated the efforts of late Bangladeshi President Ziaur Rahman.
Referring to the strengths of the association, he said the 12th summit created avenues of cooperation, which need to be further explored. Pointing towards the trust deficit still hampering progress in achiveving overall success, he said the member states have to move from conflict management to conflict resolution.—Agencies