India, Pak Were Close to Settle Kashmir Issue in 2006: Kasuri

Pakistan’s former foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri has said that both New Delhi and Islamabad were close to resolving the Kashmir issue in 2006, with the two sides agreeing that they will not claim victory if the dispute was resolved, reported PTI.

During an event organized by a leading Pakistani media group in Lahore, Kasuri said that both the countries were so close to a solution that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was expected to visit Pakistan in 2006 to settle the dispute, report said.

“Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was to visit Pakistan in late 2006 but elections in some Indian states and the judicial crisis in Pakistan upset all the efforts,” he was quoted as saying.

He made the remarks while referring to a political imbroglio triggered by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf’s decision to remove Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry from his post in 2007.

Kasuri also said that the two sides had also agreed that they would not claim victory if their efforts resulted in the resolution of the Kashmir, report said.

He said that domestic problems in both countries, however, stalled the efforts to resolve the Kashmir problem, said report.

The former minister said that the progress made by Pakistan and India in talks on the Kashmir dispute could serve as a starting point in fresh negotiations by both sides on the issue, report said.

Giving details of the talks, he said that Pakistan and India had agreed on a ‘joint mechanism’ to settle the Kashmir issue, said report.

“The Kashmiris demanded the right of self-determination and withdrawal of all Indian forces from occupied territory,” Kasuri was quoted as saying.

Pakistan, India and the Kashmiri leadership were involved in the discussions. “Pakistan wanted the solution as per the wishes of the Kashmiri people,” Kasuri was quoted as saying.

Several leading Indian and Pakistani personalities, including Mubashir Hassan, businessman Amin Hashwani, I A Rahman, Shafqat Mehmood, Amitabh Matto, Prem Shankar Jha, Admiral L Ramdas and former Foreign Secretary Salman Haider, participated in the event.