The Foreign Office spokesman said here on Monday that there were no plans to refer the Baglihar dam issue to the International Court of Justice as it was not stipulated in the Indus Waters Treaty. Jalil Abbas Jilani said that reports suggesting the move were not correct, as Pakistan could not act beyond the scope of the Treaty. He said that the Treaty provides for reference of a complaint to the World Bank, which has to appoint a neutral observer for examination. And, in case the verdict of the neutral observer was not acceptable to either of the parties, it was declared a "dispute" and was referred for arbitration.
The spokesman said that discussions between President Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Kashmir were of "confidential nature" and the media were not made privy to these. Hence, the reports about what was discussed in those "one-to-one" meetings were mere speculations.
He said that President had not proposed any division of Kashmir, or freezing of the Line of Control (LoC), and what he (the President) touched upon in his interview with the media were the various suggestions that were being tossed up for discussion by various groups. These did not reflect his thinking on the issue.
Pakistan, he said, would accept any solution which the leadership and people of Kashmir accepted. He said that Pakistan only recognises the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) as representative of the Kashmiri people and their aspirations.
He said that serious discussions were taking place on the question of Kashmir and both parties believed that time had come for its resolution and to put an end to the sufferings of the Kashmiri people.
The leadership of APHC had also met and discussed with President Musharraf their point of view during his recent visit to New Delhi, he added.
The spokesman said that Javed Malik, a cipher clerk at Pakistan Embassy at Baghdad, had been released "unconditionally" and Islamabad appreciated the help provided by the Iraqi government and also "some friendly countries". He however, declined to identify "the friendly countries" by name, but said that soon after Javed's abduction, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had telephoned Baghdad and a number of other countries and sought their assistance in this connection.
He said that Javed had not been tortured, but was stressed. Arrangements were being made for his return to Pakistan.
He also spoke of the protest Pakistan had lodged with the European Union, and also the authorities in Brussels, about the treatment meted out to Senator Sami-ul-Haq by the Belgian immigration authorities.
In this connection, he said, the Foreign Minister would be meeting with the envoys of European Union here on Wednesday.
Jilani said that Pakistan was still in touch with the International Atomic Energy Agency about the provision of nuclear centrifugal fuses.
He said that talks to fix a date for the summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (Saarc) at Dhaka were being continuing, as Pakistan wants the meeting to take place at the earliest.