The Hindu : National : We support reopening of consulates: Kasuri

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004

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National

We support reopening of consulates: Kasuri

By Our Diplomatic Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 6. As India and Pakistan take small steps at a time, what happens to the areas in which agreement has already been reached, but implementation is yet to begin? That is precisely the question that was posed to Foreign Ministers Natwar Singh and Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri at their joint press conference today.

Asked about the absolute lack of progress in implementing the two-month-old decision to re-open the Mumbai and Karachi consulates, Mr. Singh said he had spoken to the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Sushilkumar Shinde. India had also asked Pakistani friends to visit Mumbai to look at some properties. Both countries, he said, were committed to the reopening of the consulates.

For his part, Mr. Kasuri said, "Yes, we support the consulates [reopening]. There is no flagging in our intention or desire. It's not hidden that we asked for Jinnah House — there was some problem as far as the Government of India was concerned and they offered alternative property — which would be suitable for our purposes."

Once these properties were shown to Pakistan High Commission officials, Mr. Kasuri was "sure" an appropriate decision would be taken. That property had still not be shown, he said.

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