The Hindu : Use SAARC to resume dialogue: Pakistan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 30, 2003

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Use SAARC to resume dialogue: Pakistan

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD Dec. 29. As the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) preparatory meetings got under way here, Pakistan today urged India to make use of the SAARC summit for resuming the stalled dialogue process.

The Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman, Masood Khan, told newspersons that the summit provided a "rare and historic" opportunity for Pakistan and India to move towards a dialogue process.

"Since there have been no talks or dialogue since Agra, it is time the two countries engaged each other comprehensively. The venue of SAARC presents that opportunity and if the Indian leadership demonstrates statesmanship, there is a possibility."

Mr. Khan said: "There is a venue, there is an occasion and they must meet and these meetings could facilitate resumption of dialogue and ultimately [lead to a] a composite dialogue between the two countries." He was responding to a question whether there was a possibility of a meeting between the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, and the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on the sidelines of the summit.

To a question he said: "Kashmir has never been discussed at SAARC, we will not discuss it at SAARC but it can be discussed at some bilateral meeting."

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