Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Muhammad Kasuri has said the Indian
leadership is refusing to resume dialogue due to "internal political compulsions"
and assailed his counterpart Yashwant Sinha and Defence Minister George Fernandes
for joining the "no-talk rhetoric".
"Top Indian leaders repeatedly ruled out possibility of talks with Pakistan because
of their internal political compulsions," Kasuri said in an interview to local
daily 'Dawn' published on February 18.
He said he was concerned by the "anti-talk rhetoric" of Sinha and Fernandes, whom he
considered "secular and socialist" leaders.
This, he said, pointed towards a "deeply troubling" situation within Indian polity,
where "seemingly liberal people were also compelled to repeat such provocative
assertions.
"For its part, the Pakistan government headed by Pakistan Muslim League-Q, faced no
such compulsions and is convinced that all outstanding issues could be resolved with
India through a composite dialogue," he said.
Kasuri however did not give direct answers to queries on likely meeting with Sinha
at Kuala Lumpur, where Foreign Ministers of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries are
to meeting before the summit meeting next week.
Claiming that the situation in Pakistan was quite different, Kasuri expressed
optimism that the two countries would "ultimately" resolve their disputes "amicably"
in the coming years and called on the civil societies in both countries to strive
towards improvement of bilateral ties.
Kasuri said he was not "unmindful" of the fact that India was a plural society and
not in too distant a future the forces of its civil society would reassert
themselves.
Kasuri also criticised the Vajpayee government for accusing Pakistan of nourishing
fundamentalist forces. "Had it been so, Pakistan would have been under serious
pressure to refuse dialogue with India.
"But," he said, "Pakistan had repeatedly stressed the need for initiating dialogue
to resolve all outstanding problems between the two countries, including the issue
of Kashmir."
He, however, skirted questions about the possibility of resumption of the air, road
and railway links between the two countries and reiterated the Pakistani stand that
it was India that snapped the links to meet the requirements of its domestic
electoral agenda.
He said recent expulsion of acting High Commissioners and reduction in the
diplomatic staff in the two countries was also forced by India.
In response to a question on the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation
(SAARC) summit, Kasuri said Pakistan would soon propose new dates for the summit to
be held in Islamabad.
PTI
