Result-oriented dialogue in favour of India, Pakistan: Kasuri

ISLAMABAD, Jan 14: Former Pakistan foreign minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri on Wednesday said that durable peace could not be ensured in the South Asia region without resolving the longstanding issues between India and Pakistan. He said war is no solution of any dispute but, holding of result-oriented dialogue is in favour of both India and Pakistan.

He was addressing the participants of a seminar titled “Pak-India Relations: Security Dynamics and Future Scenario” organized by Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) here.

Highlighting the importance of early resolution of the core issue of Kashmir between the two countries, he said “it has made durable peace of the region hostage.”

The former minister said adopting of confidence building measures would be useless if the issue of Kashmir is not resolved in accordance with the wishes of its people.

Kasuri regretted that India had started levelling baseless allegations against Pakistan following the Mumbai attack.

He termed it Indian stunt for the upcoming elections in the country.

Earlier, he said in 2001 India had deployed its army along the borders for ten months to pressurise Pakistan, which also proved a futile exercise. 

Security analyst and former DG Institute of Strategic Studies Dr. Sheerin M Mazari speaking on the occasion said prevailing tension between the two countries after Mumbai incident could be defused through dialogue. 

She said it was India which always disrupted the dialogue process, adding Indian media played a negative role in escalating tension by creating unnecessary hype following the incident.

General ® Asad Durrani said levelling baseless allegations would further deteriorate the situation and should be avoided.

He said India should reciprocate Pakistan’s offers of holding joint investigation of the Mumbai incident as it would help in restoring atmosphere of confidence between the two nuclear states.

Senator Professor Khurshid Ahmed said Pakistan wants to live in peace and dignity besides establishing good relations with neighbours.

He said Kashmir is not a political issue but it is a matter of 15 million Kashmiris’ future.

He said joint efforts are needed to combat the menace of extremism and terrorism and uproot it from the society. (APP)