The Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan on Monday reiterated the suggestion made by President Pervez Musharraf that talks on Kashmir can not go on infinitely, and must have a timeframe.
This was the expectation of the peoples of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan, and India and the international community and would create confidence about the future of the current composite dialogue.
Answering a volley of questions on this point, the spokesman said that the final decision about the problems facing the two nations has to be taken by the political leadership with courage and determination and they have to first remove all the irritants of uncertainty.
He said that every time the two countries opened talks on Kashmir, it cause hope among their people and also those of Jammu and Kashmir. But the past experiences in this connection have not been satisfactory as failure to make a headway created disappointment and depression.
Masood said that this time the leaders of the two countries are participating directly in the talks and they should not leave it as an "open sore or a wound" but should "fix it" for all times to come. And for this, he said, there has to be some sort of assurance that there would be a solution.
In a statement read out earlier, the spokesman said the Sudan had assured Pakistan that it was working to implement a recent Security Council resolution on the conflict between militias and its ethnic minority in Darfur in southern Sudan despite the compressed timetable.
He was giving details about the recent visit of Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar to Khartoum as a special envoy of President Pervez Musharraf who had returned home over the weekend with a reply from President Hassan Ahmed el-Bashir of Sudan. President Musharraf had underlined his "deep and sincere desire for an early resolution of the crisis" in Darfur.
Khokhar had also met with the Sudanese Foreign Minister, Dr Mustafa Ismail, and discussed with him the situation in southern part of the country. The spokesman said Khokhar had expressed the hope that an early solution to the humanitarian situation would be found.
During his recent five-nation tour to the region, the German vice-chancellor and Foreign Minister Joscka Fischer had sought the personal intervention of President Musharraf in the matter and suggested that he use his good offices with the Sudanese leaders.
Riaz had carried a personal message from President Musharraf for the Sudanese head of state.
In another statement read out at the briefing, Masood said that Foreign Minister Kasuri, now on a two-day visit to Tehran, had discussed with his Iranian counterpart the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project and also reviewed progress in other fields of co-operation between the two neighbours.
After concluding talks with Dr Kamal Kharrazi, the Foreign Minister called on the Iranian President, Syed Mohammad Khatami, and his first Vice President, Hashemi Rafsanjani who chairs the Expediency Council.
Masood Khan said that the two Foreign Ministers discussed economic and commercial co-operation and reviewed progress in the areas of science and technology, customs, transportation and avoidance of double taxation.
Kasuri also briefed him on Islamabad's views on situation in Afghanistan, Iraq and the ongoing dialogue with India.
Comments
Comments are closed.