Kashmir solution essential for durable Peace: Kasuri
Tabinda al-Ghazala 'Pakistan Times' Foreign Correspondent

BAKU: Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri has said Pakistan wanted a negotiated settlement of the Kashmir dispute, acceptable to the people of Kashmir and also to Pakistan and India.

Addressing the 33rd OIC Foreign Minister's meeting, the Foreign Minister acknowledged some progress in the composite dialogue with India on various confidence building measures, but regretted that so far, the two countries had not been able to resolve any outstanding dispute including Kashmir.

Kasuri also expressed gratitude to the Islamic countries who stood by Pakistan in supporting the right to self-determination by the Kashmiri people.

He said the OIC had also welcomed Pakistan's efforts to resolve this dispute through dialogue with India in a just and equitable manner.

The Foreign Minister also welcomed the appointment of Ambassador Ezzat Kamil Mufti as Special Representative of the Secretary General OIC on Jammu and Kashmir.

He expressed the hope that this appointment would facilitate implementation of OIC's decisions on Jammu and Kashmir and an early resolution of the dispute.

He said Pakistan's case rested on international legitimacy and the United Nations Security Council resolutions.

He said President Pervez Musharraf had shown immense flexibility and courage in the ongoing composite dialogue with India.

Briefs Counterparts

The Foreign Minister briefed his counterparts from the member states that Pakistan and India were now in the third round of their composite dialogue, in a time span of two years.

He said Pakistan was sincere in finding a negotiated settlement to the dispute and pointed that so far the two sides had not been able to resolve any outstanding disputes, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

Recalling past experiences, the Foreign Minister said history bore witness that relations between Pakistan and India could deteriorate quite suddenly.

He said it was, therefore, essential that the outstanding disputes with India, including Kashmir, were resolved to ensure durable peace and security in South Asia. He said peace was vital for the economic uplift of 1.4 billion people living in this region.

Kasuri said Pakistan attached great importance to its relations with Afghanistan, that were based on deep-rooted bonds of culture and common faith, history and heritage.

He said a peaceful and stable Afghanistan was a pre-requisite for regional peace and development. If Afghanistan suffered, so would Pakistan, and Afghanistan's progress was a common interest. Pakistan, therefore, supported the Bonn Process and the Afghanistan Pact, Kasuri added.

The Foreign Minister said Pakistan has hosted over 4 million refugees for about 25 years, of which 2.6 million were still in the country.

He said Pakistan looked forward to the creation of such conditions in Afghanistan that would enable their return and reintegration so that they can contribute to their country's development.

The Foreign Minister said Pakistan will host the OIC Ministerial Conference on the problems of refugees in Muslim states in cooperation with the UNHCR on November 27-29 in Islamabad.

He invited Ministerial level participation in the meeting, which he said, would consider an action plan for addressing the refugees' issue.

He said there were more than 9 million refugees in the Muslim world, which constituted about 45% of the entire refugee population of the world.

Kasuri welcomed the establishment of an elected Iraqi Government and expressed the hope that it would be able to overcome the current security issues in the near future.

Expressing Pakistan's readiness to assist Iraqi government, Kasuri stressed that the process of Iraq's political consolidation and economic reconstruction should be supported by its Muslim brothers.

The Foreign Minister said effective multilateralism was pivotal to collective peace and security. He cautioned the OIC Ministers against the UN reform process, which should not be cloaked to erode the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, especially the sovereign equality of states.

He urged the OIC to closely coordinate its position on critical issues.

The Foreign Minister stressed the importance of ensuring that the OIC countries were represented adequately and continuously in an expanded Security Council, in proportion to their number.

Call to OIC

He asked the OIC Member States not to accept proposals that would relegate them to second-class status by expanding the existing and inequitable centres of privilege.

Kasuri said Pakistan and the Muslim Ummah condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including state terrorism.

He said it was unfortunate that this menace had been wrongly associated with the noble faith of Islam. He said Muslims must stress the importance of addressing the root cause of terrorism.

He said situation of grave injustice and repression involving Muslims, conditions of poverty and lack of opportunity fuelled extremism and terrorism.

The Foreign Minister said the OIC Member countries must ensure that in any proposed international instrument on terrorism, the definition should not be at the expense of the right of self-determination of Muslim people living under colonial or other forms of alien domination and foreign occupation.

The Foreign Minister condemned the recent publications and dissemination of blasphemous caricatures of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the print and electronic media and termed these as "extremely abhorrent".

He supported the OIC stance for the promotion of inter-civilizational and inter-faith dialogue.

Kasuri urged OIC Member States to enhance their scientific and technological capability and to strive for mandatory contributions of .01 % of GDP from each Member State to promote collective research and development.

The Foreign Minister also expressed Pakistan's appreciation for the prompt assistance by the Member States to Pakistan in managing the humanitarian disaster in the wake of devastating earthquake last October.●