Jammu And Kashmir - 2

[Naresh]

[center]<b><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>Pakistan never claimed Kashmir as its integral part</span></b> <!--emo&:flush--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/Flush.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='Flush.gif' /><!--endemo-->[/center]

<b>ISLAMABAD – In what is seen as a significant shift in Islamabad’s stand on Kashmir, the Foreign Office on Monday said Pakistan never claimed Jammu and Kashmir to be its integral part and the dispute is about the “aspirations” of Kashmiri people.</b>

“First of all Pakistan does not claim Kashmir.Kashmir dispute is about aspirations of Kashmiris,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said while addressing weekly press briefing here.

She said this while answering a question on President Pervez Musharraf’s remarks in interview to an Indian news channel that Pakistan is willing to give up its claim on Kashmir in pursuit of an acceptable negotiated settlement.

Tasnim said, “Pakistan never claimed Kashmir to be its integral part. What we said is Kashmiris should be able to decide their future. We hope they would opt for Pakistan. This is what they have been saying.”
She said even if Kashmiris opted for Pakistan in accordance with the UN resolutions, in that case too we would talk to the Kashmiri leaders.

Tasnim denied that there was any shift in Pakistan’s stand and said even the country’s successive constitutions since independence never claimed Kashmir as part of Pakistan.

She said that this was the reason why Azad Kashmir had a president and prime minister. “Had it been part of Pakistan it should have had a chief minister and a governor,” she said.

She said that President Musharraf had not stated Pakistan would give up its stand on Kashmir unilaterally.
The remarks of Foreign Office spokesperson drew angry reaction from the media people who persistently asked her on what basis Pakistan could say it has no claim over Kashmir and what happened to slogans like “Kashmir banega Pakistan (Kashmir will become part of Pakistan).”

The journalists reminded the spokesperson that it was the father of the nation, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who termed Kashmir as “jugular vein” of Pakistan asking her how could she say that Pakistan never claimed Kashmir.

Tasnim said that Pakistan had not given up its position on Kashmir and stood by the resolutions passed by the UN Security Council to resolve the issue according to the aspirations of Kashmiri people.

To a question on Baglihar dam, the spokesperson said that World Bank neutral expert had deferred his judgment because Pakistan had brought certain new elements in his notice on the issue and he was looking at them before giving the final decision.

She said that Pakistan expected him to abide by the Indus Water Treaty under which he had been appointed.

Answering another query, she said that Pakistan had no differences with Afghanistan on the formation of proposed Loya Jirga that would discuss ways to end violence in the neighbouring country.

She said that Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, in his visit to Kabul, gave comprehensive proposals regarding the formation of Jirga. She said that Afghan side would be handing over its proposals today to our ambassador in Kabul.

To a question on President Karzai’s speech in which he said that he could not stop infiltration from Pakistan, she said that terrorism was the problem for the whole region and due to Afghanistan issue, Pakistan had also been suffering from this menace since long.

“We are also victim of terrorism and facing it with bravery and courage having a determination to curb this menace,” she said.

She termed as baseless, the report of International Crisis Group that Pakistani pacts with pro-Taliban militants on the Afghan border have facilitated attacks on foreign troops in Afghanistan and allowed the militants to expand influence in Pakistan.

She referred to a recent UN report as much credible that said, Afghanistan’s insurgency was linked to its booming drug trade. She added that according to this report, corruption and the failure of governance, posed a grave threat to Afghan nation building.

On US-India nuclear deal, the spokesperson said that Pakistan’s position on the accessibility to nuclear technology was very clear adding that Islamabad had genuine energy requirements and Pakistan should have access to nuclear technology to meet its needs.

On Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s visit to Saudi Arabia, she said that Pakistan had very close brotherly relations with that country and the prime minister would discuss all aspects of our relations with the Saudi leadership including regional issues like Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon etc.

Tasnim said that the Egyptian Foreign Minister would visit Islamabad next week and he would discuss almost all the issues of mutual interest with his Pakistani counterpart.

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