Premier reiterates demilitarized Kashmir
Says Pakistan wants peace with India - Islamabad never blamed for terror acts: Indian State Minister
By Our Special Correspondent

ISLAMABAD—Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Sunday reiterated Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir issue and said that it should be resolved through dialogue and in line with the aspirations of Kashmiris to ensure peace in the region. Talking to newsmen here at the Prime Minister House, after meeting Indian Minister of State E. Ahmed, he said, “Pakistan wants peace in the region and resolution of core issue of Kashmir”.
The Prime Minister appreciated the Indian participation in the donors conference and their 25 million dollars pledge to assist in the reconstruction efforts.
He said, “India and Pakistan are engaged in composite dialogue, which is helping to improve relations and to have more people to people contacts, more flights, more banks and opening of more consulates”.
The Prime Minister said, “We are very appreciative of the fact that the Indian government agreed to Pakistan’s proposal to open five crossing points at Line of Control”.
He said these openings will help the Kashmiris to build relations with each other. He said Pakistan wanted to encourage them to use these points for trade of goods being manufactured in Kashmir.
The Prime Minister said presently these points are being opened once a week and hoped they would be open daily so that there could be more movement across the LoC.
He said,”Pakistan wants peace with all the countries including India” and added that the focus is required to resolve the Kashmir issue, which is a core issue between the two countries.
Shaukat Aziz said during his recent meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Dhaka, and now with Indian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs today he reiterated the need for demilitarization on both sides of the LoC as well as self-government.
He said, “We believe that sustainable peace in South Asia will be ensured when we will find solution to the Kashmir issue, which should be in line with the aspirations of the Kashmiris”. The Prime Minister said he condemned the recent blasts in India and added that Pakistan is always against all types of terrorism and a partner in the world community to fight terrorism.
The Indian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs E. Ahmed while talking to newsmen after the meeting and replying to a question about accusing Pakistan for cross border terrorism said, “I am not accusing anybody for cross border terrorism”.
The Indian Minister said he only conveyed the concern of India on “cross border terrorism” to the Prime Minister during the meeting. Replying to a question about state sponsored terrorism in occupied Kashmir, the Indian Minister denied any state terrorism in occupied Kashmir.
He said the bilateral issues were also discussed in the meeting and he conveyed to the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz that India wanted to continue the dialogue process.
Replying to another question about helping the quake victims, the Indian Minister said India had already sent 30,000 tonnes of food, 45 truck loads of relief goods and other items to Pakistan for the quake-hit areas. He said India had already pledged dollars 25 million to the Earthquake Fund of Pakistan and a number of steps were taken after October 8 quake including opening of five crossing-points on the Line of Control.
The Indian government, he said, also provided telephones in the quake affected areas to help the Kashmiris in contacting their relatives across the Line of Control.
He said he also conveyed the sympathies of the Indian people and the government to the Prime Minister on the loss of lives in earthquake.
Online adds: Indian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs E-Ahmed Sunday made clear that New Delhi did not blame Islamabad for acts of terrorism, and that he conveyed his country’s position on cross-border infiltration to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
He stated this while talking to journalists after holding meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz here at PM house.
The Indian minister said during his meeting with the Prime minister, he expressed his high sympathy and condolence on behalf of the people and government of India over the loss of lives and property received by Pakistan due to devastated earthquake.
E-Ahmad disclosed that he has conveyed Indian Prime Minister Message to Shaukat Aziz in which he assured Pakistan India would continue extension of relief to this country in this difficult time.
He said India has already provided relief goods of 13 hundreds tonnes besides providing amount of some $25 million relief aid to Pakistan for reconstruction and rehabilitation of quake survivors.
He said his country opened five crossing points on LoC along with providing telephonic facility to the people of Kashmir aimed at both sides people on control line would meet freely in the need of hour.
In his meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, He said talks have also been conducted on the promotion of bilateral relation between Pakistan and India. “We hoped that ongoing confidence building measures would push bilateral relations between both countries in the forward direction.