India-Pak close to strike a deal on Siachen: Kasuri

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri said on Sunday that India and Pakistan were close to reaching an agreement to resolve Siachen issue and suggested a "breakthrough" on this was expected next month to enable Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan.

 

He said meetings of Foreign Secretaries and Foreign Ministers' of the two countries in Delhi next month would hopefully achieve a breakthrough to enable Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Pakistan.

 

Kasuri said he would visit New Delhi next month to attend the wedding of the daughter of Panchayati Raj Mani Shanker Ayer during which he hopes to meet External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee who took over as the new External Affairs Minister.

 

"As a Foreign Minister of Pakistan, I know we are very close to an agreement. I will not go into details. It depends on political will and I hope that the Prime Minister and the (new) Foreign Minister of India will show that political will", Kasuri said.

 

The Foreign Secretaries, who are meeting in Delhi on November 14-15, will work out dates for a formal meeting between the two, Kasuri said.

 

The Pakistan Foreign Minister said he would not attend the meeting being called by India on Afghanistan to be held in Delhi on November 18-19 and instead, Minister of State for Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar would attend it.

 

Pressed for details on the backchannel talks being held to resolve Siachen dispute, Kasuri said "I said my understanding as a Foreign Minister is that they are close to an agreement. What is now needed is political will. I can not go into details".

 

Asked whether a breakthrough is expected at Foreign Secretaries meeting to be held in New Delhi on November 14-15 to review the Composite Dialogue process followed by Foreign Ministers review meeting, Kasuri said "I will tell you what we will try and do. I can speak for Pakistan. We want that your Prime Minister should be able to pay a visit to Pakistan.

 

"These high level visits are important and do not ever under estimate them. People commit that mistake. That is where the human element comes in. High level visits are important", he said.

 

"Both Foreign Ministers and our Foreign Secretaries will try and achieve the same thing during our meetings. We should pave the way to your Prime Minister's visit to Pakistan and to make his visit a success and substantive one because it is very important for India-Pak relations that Prime Minister pays the visit and it achieves something concrete", he said.

 

When pointed out that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf himself said Singh's visit as and when it takes place should be substantive, Kasuri said "you are right. That is why I said it should be the objective of the Foreign Ministers of both the countries that happens. Glitches should be removed by the Foreign Ministers", he said.

 

"The Foreign Secretaries will be meeting. We have two very experienced Foreign Secretaries. I can now even speak about India Foreign Secretary, (Shivshankar Menon) because I have dealt with him when he was the High Commissioner to India here. He is an experienced, perhaps more experienced in India about Pakistan then anybody in India today because he was posted here.

 

"So, we have (Pakistan Foreign Secretary) Riaz Muhammad Khan who knows Menon when he was here and the two also knew each other from their days in China where they were Ambassadors of their respective countries.

 

"We have two Foreign Secretaries very experienced and hopefully the two Foreign Ministers will be able to make that next step possible. Because now is the turn of the Prime Minister to visit Pakistan. I would like it to be this year but I do not know. That depends on Foreign Minister of India".

 

Kasuri said Siachen was one issue on which the two sides could achieve progress besides discussing solutions to the Kashmir issue and the setting up joint mechanism to deal with issues relating to terrorism.

 

Kasuri said India and Pakistan were talking through various channels. "Things can be more easily done and issues like Siachen can more easily be resolved because a lot work has already been done".

 

Referring to Kashmir issue, he said, "We have been talking of modalities. I will not say anything more".

 

"Pakistan and India have been talking. At least, we should try and make the visit of Dr. Manmohan Singh visit to Pakistan more constructive. That should be the objective of both the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan",

 

"If you ask me what should be the immediate target, the Foreign Ministers should make sure that the next visit (by Singh) takes place quickly now that the President Musharraf has already visited India. That is why I am talking of visit of Singh. I hope both I and Mukherjee will be able to achieve that", he said.

 

He said "useful ideas" were discussed on Kashmir when Musharraf had met in Havana on the sideline of NAM summit and for the first time there was reference and acknowledgement.

 

"I think it is time we took public into confidence also. This is the first reference to useful discussions held on Kashmir and an agreement to reduce divergences and to increase convergences", Kasuri said adding "I won't go into details but these sentences speaks volumes".

 

"Similarly, there were references to joint mechanism on terrorism", he said.

 

Kasuri said Pakistan considers Singh's visit important because it would stir all the relevant ministries in both the countries into action.

 

On the appointment of Mukherjee, Kasuri, who has been publicly airing his disappointment over India not having a Foreign Minister ever since the resignation of Natwar Singh, said he was happy because it provided one more channel of communication between the two countries.

 

"To be very honest, it does open a new channel of communications. I say this on the basis of experience. I have been lucky to deal with Yasahwant Sinha and Natwar Singh with whom I developed a level of trust. If you can develop a level of trust, it helps the dialogue," Kasuri said.