On meeting with Manmohan Singh
Our talks were very good and held in a friendly and a cordial atmosphere. Thecomposite dialogue and confidence building measures will continue. Pakistanwants peace with its neighbours and peace with India. We want to settle allissues in a manner which is friendly and which helps the whole region grow. Weneed to work on our issues so that we reach a stage where we have sustainablepeace... I am very hopeful that this will happen.
On J&K
As regards the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, we believe that this is an issuewe all need to address... Progress on other issues will be made in tandem withprogress on the Jammu and Kashmir issue
Advertisement
On the 'Musharraf Vibe'
No proposals were presented to India [referring to Pakistan President PervezMusharraf's recent formulation on Kashmir which, Aziz said, was meant for publicdebate in Pakistan]. No reaction was expected from India.
On Hurriyat
We believe that the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) represents a veryimportant and key group of people of Kashmir. [Not sole]
I had four to five hours of discussions with the leaders jointly andseparately last night. (But he refused to give details of his first meeting withthem. He also dodged all questions about PoK and what is being done about therights and condition of people there)
On India-Iran gas pipeline
If India needs the gas also which I believe they do, we have asked the IndianGovernment to join us in this project. However, if they have other sources ofenergy, Pakistan is going ahead with this pipeline anyway for its own use. Itwould be absolutely safe. We are talking to Turkmenistan, Qatar and Iran. (Toget gas for Pakistan itself).
Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service
The two countries have to sort out issues like travel documents for use bypassengers. It will come up for detailed discussion at the Foreign Secretarylevel talks next month. A lot of details have to be sorted out then.
Advertisement
On SAARC
This area has one of the best collection of human capital in the world. We canleverage our strategies but we need to work on our issues so that we can reach astage where we have sustainable peace for the years to come. I am hopeful thatthis will happen and that it will allow us and our future generations to benefitfrom what is a great opportunity, an opportunity of
potential, an opportunity of peace, an opportunity for growth and a betterfuture for all of us.
'Out of the Box'
Earlier, at a breakfast meeting with senior editors, he said: India andPakistan should go beyond static positions on the Kashmir issue -- an out of thebox approach is required. Both sides should move forward for finding a lastingsolution to the 57-year-old issue, the people of Kashmir should be involved inthe process. While a debate is going on in Pakistan on the issue, India shouldalso encourage a similar discussion.
On granting the Most Favoured Nation status to India, he said it is linkedto a solution on Kashmir and cannot be considered in isolation.
