Pak, India were close to agreement on Kashmir: Kasuri
NEW DELHI, Feb. 19 (APP): Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, Former Foreign Minister said Pakistan and India were close to agreement on Kashmir through back-channel diplomacy.
In an interview with Karan Thapar on India Tonight on CNBC TV18, Kasuri said both the countries made substantial progress on four parts of Kashmir solution including demilitarization, regionalization, joint mechanism and self-government.
Referring to demilitarization, he said both countries believed agreement can not be reached without providing comfort to Kashmiris. But schedules of withdrawal of forces had not been agreed but the principle was that it would provide relief to Kashmiris.
Without divulging the details, he said regionalisation was the second part of the whole settlement.
When asked whether both sides were working out how they would give self-governance to their respective people or was there an agreed form that both sides had to follow, Kasuri said You know, to be very honest, I dont want to mislead your audience, I think we were more or less working on similar sort of things on both sides.
If you want more understanding, I can tell you we even privately discussed when, hopefully when the whole thing was done, neither side would proclaim victory. Because if you did that, it would be destructive of the whole spirit of the agreement, Kasuri further said.
When asked about joint mechanism which was being worked out, he said there would be representatives from our side of Kashmir, this side of Kashmir, and Pakistanis and Indians. They were supposed to look after certain subjects.
When asked to elaborate, he said where Indians and Pakistanis would be present, and so would people from both parts of Kashmir, because that is how Joint Mechanism would work.
In this mechanism, he said both countries had substantial understanding.
To a question, he further said Pakistan wanted Kashmiris to be involved.
We wanted Kashmiris to be involved, and India was not that keen, so we arrived at this modus vivendi that your Kashmiris would travel to Pakistan, our Kashmiris would travel here and meet your leaders and your Kashmiris meet our leaders in an indirect form. We would have preferred a direct Kashmiri Participation, he said.
He said these back channels talks were held all over the world.
Ill tell you what happened. Certain suggestions were floated by Pakistan, and then representatives met. Tariq Aziz remained from our side throughout. Actually you know, the whole thing started with Brijesh Mishra. Although the concrete non-papers did not start then. The process started with him. But I must pay a compliment to both the governments. Both PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and PM Manmohan Singh they both helped the process, he said.
He said the talks started with Brijesh Mishra, but not many details. Then Dikshit took over. Unfortunately Dikshit died then Lambha took over.
To another question, he said It is sheer bad luck. Sheer bad luck. I can tell you. We hoped somewhere in 2006 that the Indian PM would come and I think there were 5 state elections, including UP. So perhaps the government thought it would be more advisable to go afterwards.
So we said OK fine. Can you believe it, before we could invite him, CJ Chaudhry was removed in Pakistan. So first it was Indian elections or state elections, then the CJ. When we thought we would call him, the entire national attention was diverted to the CJ affair.
When asked whether politics in both these countries at one time or another made it impossible for the understandings to reach, he said You know, in our case it was misfortune, not politics, the removal of the CJ.
When asked, many commentators in papers in India, including Omar Abdullah, the current Chief Minister of Held Kashmir who specifically said this in an interview with him the agreement could not be reached because at the crucial moment the Indian government backed off. Maybe it lost courage or conviction, Kasuri said he would not confirm or deny it as it is not appropriate for him to comment on the conduct of the government of India.
When asked on other outstanding issues such as Sir Creek and Siachen, he said both countries were also going to sign agreement on Sir Creek.
Referring to issue of Sir Creek, he said there was almost an agreement on it.
It was ready. Joint survey, Joint maps. Only political will was required. If the PM of India had come when we thought he would, we would have actually signed it, and that would have created the right atmosphere for resolution of other disputes, particularly the issue of J&K. We needed the right atmosphere, he said.
Referring to issue of Siachen, he said there was a lot of understanding. In fact both sides had worked out certain schedules of disengagement whereby Indian and Pakistani concerns would be met.
When asked whether this was something you felt the Indians were willing to stand up for and abide by, he said that was my impression because I was told at a very high level by an Indian official.
So even though on the Siachen issue we may not have been close to an agreement ready for signing as was the case with Sir Creek, nonetheless there was a very close measure of understanding.., he said.
Kasuri further said I would say among sections of the Govt of India, no govt speaks with one voice, there was agreement, and given time, they would have convinced other members of the Indian establishment.
He said both countries had agreed that peace process was irreversible.
They announced publicly that peace process is irreversible, he said.
Associated Press Of Pakistan ( Pakistan's Premier NEWS Agency ) - Pak, India were close to agreement on Kashmir: Kasuri
