Terming her visit to India an extremely successful
trip, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Tuesday said that Pakistan
wanted good relations with all its neighbours, including New Delhi. “When we look into policies vis a vis Afghanistan and India, we want to build a new relationship and a new era of cooperation with each other. We want to build trust, rather than to evaporate trust. We want to build new foundation of relationship,” the Foreign Minister said in the National Assembly.
Taking the House in confidence regarding her maiden visit as Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Hina Rabbani Khar said the broad aspect of the visit was to have an uninterrupted and uninterruptible dialogue with India.
She said Pakistan and India had talked to each other many times in the past and whenever the talks gained momentum they were interrupted by any incident, which either took place here or there.
She said,” the ‘uninterrupted and uninterruptible’ dialogue means that we want meaningful and result-oriented dialogue and for that both the sides need to ensure conducive environment”.
She acknowledged the resolve and efforts of the Prime Ministers of two countries for resuming dialogues.
She informed the Indian side that the Prime Minister of Pakistan had taken all political parties whether they were in or out of the parliament, into confidence over the resumption of Pak-India dialogue.
“He (the Indian Foreign Minister) got a message from Pakistan that we are serious in engaging with India. It is our desire and in the national interest to get engage with India in a meaningful way,” Hina said.
“We held ministerial and secretaries level talks with India on eight issues, including counter-terrorism, economic and commercial cooperation, Wooler Barrage, Siachen, Sir Creek, peace and security including CBM, Jammu and Kashmir and promotion of friendly exchanges,” she told the House.
The Foreign Minister said during her visit to India she also held meeting with Kashmiri leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Gilani and Umer Farooq and others and assured them that Pakistan remained committed on its political and legal position on Jammu and Kashmir and would continue to support the Kashmiris cause.
“I also reiterated Pakistan’s continued support of associating the true representatives of Kashmiris with the dialogue process on Jammu and Kashmir,” she added.
The Foreign Minister said that talks were held in a cordial and friendly manner as the two sides reviewed the progress made in previous meetings especially held during last five months.
Besies, she added that the two sides also agreed to carry forward the dialogue with a view to resolve all outstanding issues through a comprehensive, constructive and result-oriented engagements.
Regarding Jammu and Kashmir, Hina said Pakistan conveyed to the Indian side its strong desire for a peaceful and just solution of the issue in accordance with the aspirations of Kashmiri people. “We desire to associate Kashmiri leadership for a just solution of Jammu and Kashmir. We also expressed serious concern over human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.”
She said that both the sides agreed to enhance the exiting facilities for travel and trade across LoC for Kashmiris living on both sides.
She said India was also conveyed that Paksitan was keen to see progress on Siachen and Sir Creek as well as its concerns over water, besides call to respect the Indus Water Treaty. Both the sides agreed to observe the sanctity of Indus Water Treaty, Hina said.
The minister said economic and visa issues also came under discussion.
She said the Indian sides conveyed concerns over terrorism and the Mumbai trial case while both the sides agreed to hold separate meetings of experts on nuclear and conventional CBMs in Islamabad in September 2011.
A joint working group would explore new avenues of cooperation between the two countries in various fields.
Hina said Pakistan India Joint Working Commission and reconvening of dialogue was an important step as the commission worked only there where the interaction was normal between the two countries.
She said the next ministerial meeting would be held in the first half of 2012 in Islamabad.
Hina said she also called on the Indian Prime Minister and conveyed to him the greetings of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani.
She said the Indian Prime Minister welcomed progress on Pak-India dialogue and stressed that he wanted friendly relations with Pakistan and resolution of all outstanding issues.
A letter of invation from Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was handed over to him which was accepted, Hina said.
During the interaction with leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, she emphasized that “Pakistan sees result-oriented engagements with India”.
“I told them that there is a consensus among all political parties in Pakistan to have improvement in friendly relationship with India,” she added.
They expressed satisfaction over resumption of dialogue between the two countries and assured their full cooperation for good ties between Pakistan and India.
“We believe that peace, security and prosperity in South Asia as a whole is indivisible,” Hina said. APP
She said Pakistan and India had talked to each other many times in the past and whenever the talks gained momentum they were interrupted by any incident, which either took place here or there.
She said,” the ‘uninterrupted and uninterruptible’ dialogue means that we want meaningful and result-oriented dialogue and for that both the sides need to ensure conducive environment”.
She acknowledged the resolve and efforts of the Prime Ministers of two countries for resuming dialogues.
She informed the Indian side that the Prime Minister of Pakistan had taken all political parties whether they were in or out of the parliament, into confidence over the resumption of Pak-India dialogue.
“He (the Indian Foreign Minister) got a message from Pakistan that we are serious in engaging with India. It is our desire and in the national interest to get engage with India in a meaningful way,” Hina said.
“We held ministerial and secretaries level talks with India on eight issues, including counter-terrorism, economic and commercial cooperation, Wooler Barrage, Siachen, Sir Creek, peace and security including CBM, Jammu and Kashmir and promotion of friendly exchanges,” she told the House.
The Foreign Minister said during her visit to India she also held meeting with Kashmiri leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Gilani and Umer Farooq and others and assured them that Pakistan remained committed on its political and legal position on Jammu and Kashmir and would continue to support the Kashmiris cause.
“I also reiterated Pakistan’s continued support of associating the true representatives of Kashmiris with the dialogue process on Jammu and Kashmir,” she added.
The Foreign Minister said that talks were held in a cordial and friendly manner as the two sides reviewed the progress made in previous meetings especially held during last five months.
Besies, she added that the two sides also agreed to carry forward the dialogue with a view to resolve all outstanding issues through a comprehensive, constructive and result-oriented engagements.
Regarding Jammu and Kashmir, Hina said Pakistan conveyed to the Indian side its strong desire for a peaceful and just solution of the issue in accordance with the aspirations of Kashmiri people. “We desire to associate Kashmiri leadership for a just solution of Jammu and Kashmir. We also expressed serious concern over human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.”
She said that both the sides agreed to enhance the exiting facilities for travel and trade across LoC for Kashmiris living on both sides.
She said India was also conveyed that Paksitan was keen to see progress on Siachen and Sir Creek as well as its concerns over water, besides call to respect the Indus Water Treaty. Both the sides agreed to observe the sanctity of Indus Water Treaty, Hina said.
The minister said economic and visa issues also came under discussion.
She said the Indian sides conveyed concerns over terrorism and the Mumbai trial case while both the sides agreed to hold separate meetings of experts on nuclear and conventional CBMs in Islamabad in September 2011.
A joint working group would explore new avenues of cooperation between the two countries in various fields.
Hina said Pakistan India Joint Working Commission and reconvening of dialogue was an important step as the commission worked only there where the interaction was normal between the two countries.
She said the next ministerial meeting would be held in the first half of 2012 in Islamabad.
Hina said she also called on the Indian Prime Minister and conveyed to him the greetings of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani.
She said the Indian Prime Minister welcomed progress on Pak-India dialogue and stressed that he wanted friendly relations with Pakistan and resolution of all outstanding issues.
A letter of invation from Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was handed over to him which was accepted, Hina said.
During the interaction with leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, she emphasized that “Pakistan sees result-oriented engagements with India”.
“I told them that there is a consensus among all political parties in Pakistan to have improvement in friendly relationship with India,” she added.
They expressed satisfaction over resumption of dialogue between the two countries and assured their full cooperation for good ties between Pakistan and India.
“We believe that peace, security and prosperity in South Asia as a whole is indivisible,” Hina said. APP
