India sabotages talks
Hopes were pinned upon the Pak-India Foreign Minister's talks held in Islamabad on July 15, but nothing substantive emerged from the “substantive” talks as anticipated. India sticking to its obdurate stance remained glued to single item agenda of terrorism and trial of Mumbai attack accused.
The foreign minister of the two countries Shah Mahmood Qureshi and SM Krishna who had been mandated by their prime ministers to narrow the trust gap failed to agree on anything tangible despite protracted discussion. The stalemate had been the result of India's inflexible attitude, which refused to discuss anything of concern to Pakistan on the plea that they did not have mandate to do so. It was like throwing a spanner in the workshop. The much awaited talks failed to address Kashmir and the human rights issue in occupied Kashmir due to India's intransigence. Foreign Minister Mr. Qureshi however hinted during press talks that “We made progress on Kashmir issue. We will try to build on what we achieved in the past”
Other issues like Siachen could not be discussed. India was also reluctant to agree to any timeframe for the trust building process and kept it open ended thus putting off Pakistan's concern indefinitely. One redeeming feature of the talks was however the resumption of a process that had been disrupted after the Mumbai attack in 2008. Shah Mehmood Qureshi in his talks with the media observed that “The existing environment of goodwill in Pakistan for fostering friendly relations with India need to be built upon through concrete measures to address all the outstanding issues between the two countries lest it gets eroded with the passage of time.” While acknowledging India's concern about terrorism, the foreign minister offered cooperation in this regard. But at the same time he emphasized the importance of a host of other outstanding issues that needed to be sorted out of which Kashmir was one to normalize relations between the two countries. The talks were nothing more than expression of the desire to continue the dialogue, which was ended after the Mumbai attack. Indian Foreign Minister Krishna's side-tracking of the Kashmir issue and human rights violation in the occupied territory demonstrate once again that India was not sincere about resolving the lingering issue that has caused three wars between the two countries besides inflicting untold hardships upon the people of Kashmir. More than one hundred thousand Kashmiris have been slain by the occupation forces for demanding their right to self-determination. A wave of terrorism continues to stalk the territory where people have no protection against tyrannical operations of the marauding troops, who can harass, arrest and even kill with impunity. The troops have been given un-limited powers to carry out their sinister plans. The human rights violations in occupied Kashmir are the direct outcome of the liberties given to the troops who have been indulging in all kinds of inhuman activities including murders, rapes, arson and desecration of Muslims' holy places.
The meeting between Prime Minister of Pakistan and India at Sharmal-Sheikh in Egypt and Thumpu in Bhutan had emphasized the need of the two countries to come closer and sort out their differences to settle outstanding issues between them. In fulfillment of this call Pakistan and India have taken a lead by deciding to sit across the table to settle their pending issues. The end result of the Islamabad talks though left much to be desired but at least it rejuvenated a dead process. Kashmir is the central issue to be sorted out; without it no forward movement could be anticipated. At the same time participation of genuine leadership of Kashmiris in any future talks aimed at resolving the lingering problems was imperative to make them meaningful and result oriented. Past history of talks between India and Pakistan are sufficient to prove this fact. All talks previously had failed to produce results as they were not Kashmir centered. Kashmir should be the focal point of discussions as resolution of all the issues depend on the settlement of Kashmir imbroglio. India's evasiveness about Kashmir is the main reason for the prolongation of the debate on the subject.
India sabotages talks | Kashmir Media Service
---------- Post added at 02:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:51 PM ----------
India sabotages talks
Hopes were pinned upon the Pak-India Foreign Minister's talks held in Islamabad on July 15, but nothing substantive emerged from the substantive talks as anticipated. India sticking to its obdurate stance remained glued to single item agenda of terrorism and trial of Mumbai attack accused.
The foreign minister of the two countries Shah Mahmood Qureshi and SM Krishna who had been mandated by their prime ministers to narrow the trust gap failed to agree on anything tangible despite protracted discussion. The stalemate had been the result of India's inflexible attitude, which refused to discuss anything of concern to Pakistan on the plea that they did not have mandate to do so. It was like throwing a spanner in the workshop. The much awaited talks failed to address Kashmir and the human rights issue in occupied Kashmir due to India's intransigence. Foreign Minister Mr. Qureshi however hinted during press talks that We made progress on Kashmir issue. We will try to build on what we achieved in the past
Other issues like Siachen could not be discussed. India was also reluctant to agree to any timeframe for the trust building process and kept it open ended thus putting off Pakistan's concern indefinitely. One redeeming feature of the talks was however the resumption of a process that had been disrupted after the Mumbai attack in 2008. Shah Mehmood Qureshi in his talks with the media observed that The existing environment of goodwill in Pakistan for fostering friendly relations with India need to be built upon through concrete measures to address all the outstanding issues between the two countries lest it gets eroded with the passage of time. While acknowledging India's concern about terrorism, the foreign minister offered cooperation in this regard. But at the same time he emphasized the importance of a host of other outstanding issues that needed to be sorted out of which Kashmir was one to normalize relations between the two countries. The talks were nothing more than expression of the desire to continue the dialogue, which was ended after the Mumbai attack. Indian Foreign Minister Krishna's side-tracking of the Kashmir issue and human rights violation in the occupied territory demonstrate once again that India was not sincere about resolving the lingering issue that has caused three wars between the two countries besides inflicting untold hardships upon the people of Kashmir. More than one hundred thousand Kashmiris have been slain by the occupation forces for demanding their right to self-determination. A wave of terrorism continues to stalk the territory where people have no protection against tyrannical operations of the marauding troops, who can harass, arrest and even kill with impunity. The troops have been given un-limited powers to carry out their sinister plans. The human rights violations in occupied Kashmir are the direct outcome of the liberties given to the troops who have been indulging in all kinds of inhuman activities including murders, rapes, arson and desecration of Muslims' holy places.
The meeting between Prime Minister of Pakistan and India at Sharmal-Sheikh in Egypt and Thumpu in Bhutan had emphasized the need of the two countries to come closer and sort out their differences to settle outstanding issues between them. In fulfillment of this call Pakistan and India have taken a lead by deciding to sit across the table to settle their pending issues. The end result of the Islamabad talks though left much to be desired but at least it rejuvenated a dead process. Kashmir is the central issue to be sorted out; without it no forward movement could be anticipated. At the same time participation of genuine leadership of Kashmiris in any future talks aimed at resolving the lingering problems was imperative to make them meaningful and result oriented. Past history of talks between India and Pakistan are sufficient to prove this fact. All talks previously had failed to produce results as they were not Kashmir centered. Kashmir should be the focal point of discussions as resolution of all the issues depend on the settlement of Kashmir imbroglio. India's evasiveness about Kashmir is the main reason for the prolongation of the debate on the subject.
India sabotages talks | Kashmir Media Service
