Govt, Opp must work to lift emergency: Kasuri
By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

ISLAMABAD—Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has urged both the government and opposition to work jointly for early lifting of emergency.
“ We will have to create such a situation for lifting emergency rule so that we could rid of it as soon as possible. And this is corporate responsibility of both government and opposition and all of us. Government and opposition continue to change but national interest should be dear to us”, he said this while addressing farewell reception hosted in his honor by the foreign secretary Riaz Ahmad Khan and talking to the journalists here Wednesday.
“ We are cognizant of international community concern over the promulgation of emergency in the country. But we have taken decisions keeping in view national interests”, he held. The current situation will rapidly change and emergency will soon be lifted, he hoped. The situation will normalize, he added.
On Kashmir issue he said it was upto both Pakistan and India to decide for resolution of all issues including Kashmir issue. Peace will remain elusive without the settlement of Kashmir problem, he underscored. The composite dialogue process initiated by us would help the coming government, he remarked. No considerable headway could be made for resolution of Kashmir issue, he added.
“We want peace in Afghanistan. We will not allow any one to destabilize Afghanistan or use our territory for terrorist acts”, he announced. Close and lasting relations with China are corners stone of country’s foreign policy, he said. Trade with China has swelled by 400 percent following execution of free trade agreement, he told. This will soar to $15 billion in next five years, he hoped.
“ We have good friendly relations with Iran. With the completion of Iran, Pakistan, India gas pipeline; project, interaction at regional level will get boost, he said. To a question he said Pakistan would not establish full diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent state of Palestine comes to existence and Jerusalem becomes its capital. We stand by our stance, he added.
Kasuri highlighting the salient features of his five year tenure as Foreign Minister said that in these years, the policy remained focused on promotion of regional and international peace and security as well as the economic and social development of the country and the welfare of the people.
“We have maintained and improved our relations with all our neighbors and the major world powers,” he said and added, “The objective of our policy has been to build bridges of peace with our neighbors.” The Foreign Minister said Pakistan initiated a composite dialogue process with India aimed at confidence building measures as well as resolution of outstanding disputes, including Kashmir.
The Minister said trade, sports links and people-to-people contact with India have improved. He said, “We have made a lot of progress but still there is the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir still to be resolved.”
He said there has been a lot of improvement due to efforts, extensive and useful work made at the Foreign Office level and at back-channel. He said, “I can say with confidence that so much work has been done, it will be easy for future government to pick up the pace from there to continue the process.”
The Minister said the trade between Pakistan and India has increased eight-fold from $200 million to $1.6 billion and both the countries have fixed the $10 billion bilateral trade target. Kasuri said Pakistan also made good relations with Afghanistan and extended support to every initiative that could help Afghan brethren to achieve national reconciliation and rebuild their country.
“We have also contributed to the reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, “ he added. The Minister also mentioned Pakistan’s relations with China and said these are a corner-stone of Pakistan’s foreign policy. These relations, he said, have gained greater substance and strength in the last five years and there has been 400 per cent increase in the trade in the last five years and a target of $15 billion has been fixed for the next five years.
He said besides Free Trade Agreement and establishment of Joint Investment Company will further help improve trade. On the issue of Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, the Minister said Pakistan is committed to the project as it will promote regional cooperation.
Kasuri said, “We continue to enjoy close friendly relations with our brotherly Islamic countries as well as our near neighbors in the Gulf.” He especially welcomed the flow of capital from the Islamic countries, particularly from the UAE.