A Foreign Office spokesman has confirmed that the Indian External Affairs Minister Kunwar Natwar Singh was expected to arrive here by the middle of next month, and will review with his Pak counterpart Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri the bilateral relations between the two countries. This will be the first independent visit of an Indian external affairs minister in last 15 years designed for a direct discussion on the problems faced by Pakistan and India.
Natwar Singh has visited Islamabad several time in the past, including as a federal minister but those visits were connected with international conferences like the Saarc Ministerial conference last summer.
His other predecessors came here accompanying their prime ministers for Saarc summits or other forums. The FO spokesman told a weekly press briefing here on Monday that Natwar Singh would have conferences with Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri on the progress made by the two countries in their composite dialogue and also survey the other relations.
A discussion on how to resurrect negotiations on the controversial Baghliar Dam is also expected to take place between the two ministers, but Pakistan insists that any reopening of talks should precede suspension of work on the Dam. But as the spokesman reminded his audience at the weekly briefing that the President and the federal Cabinet had already taken a decision to invoke the Indus Basin Treaty in this respect, and said there was no "going back on our decision".
He said Pakistan has already briefed the World Bank about the situation, adding the water and power experts had come to a determination that Pakistan had a strong case in this respect, and were confident of getting a favourable decision.
He regretted that India had been using dilatory tactics in this connection, saying besides the World Bank, Pakistan had also briefed China, European Union, Japan and Canada, and they have been already briefed on the breakdown of the negotiations over the Baghliar Dam and the difficulties Islamabad was facing. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, the spokesman said, has already taken a decision as to when to use that option and said would be announced at proper time.
And though the spokesman did not say it but it was obvious from his total remarks was that it may be after Indian external affairs minister's visit that may be used for another attempt to impress upon the Indian leaders the Pakistani viewpoint.
The main issue in the meetings, however, will be the main dispute on the future of the Jammu and Kashmir about which the spokesman told a questioner that Pakistan wanted to go the substance and try to resolve the issue.
He also reminded the questioners that President Musharraf was against using bilateralism as a means to relegate the Kashmir issue and that the negotiations had to be result-oriented.
Masood Khan also recalled his earlier statements that the Line of Control in Kashmir could not provide a solution, and hoped that when the Indian external affairs minister is in Islamabad he will have very productive talks with his counterpart. He agreed that it was continuous process of dialogue with India and one should not get disappointed with its pace.
He also reiterated that Pakistan would only accept a solution that will also finds favour with the Kashmiris who were a principal party to the issue.
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