Pak says satisfied with Zardari-Singh meeting

Rezaul H Laskar

Islamabad, Jun 18 (PTI) Pakistan Thursday expressed
satisfaction at the outcome of the meeting between President
Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but said
lasting peace could not be achieved in the region till the
"core issue" of Kashmir is settled.

Listing the "tangible outcomes" of the parleys between
Zardari and Singh on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation summit in Russia, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul
Basit said the two countries had decided on future meetings of
their Foreign Secretaries and political leadership.

"The outcome of the meeting was satisfactory as the two
Foreign Secretaries will meet in the future. We hope they will
be able to look at all issues (between the two countries),"
Basit said.

Pakistan had not been expecting the Zardari-Singh
meeting to lead to immediate resumption of composite dialogue,
stalled following the Mumbai terror attacks, Basit told a
weekly news briefing, responding to a question about
Islamabad's expectations from the meeting on Tuesday.

He said Kashmir remained a "core issue" that needs to be
settled for viable and lasting peace between India and
Pakistan and in South Asia, emphasising the need for a "fair
and just settlement" in line with aspirations of the Kashmiri
people.

Singh and Zardari agreed that the Foreign Secretaries of
the two countries would hold talks before another meeting
between them on the sidelines of a Non-Aligned Movement summit
in Egypt in July.

However, Basit said the Pakistani delegation to the NAM
summit at Sharm el-Sheikh would be led by Prime Minister
Yousuf Raza Gilani. He said Pakistan hoped these upcoming
meetings would be "result-oriented" and lead to the resumption
of the composite dialogue.

Asked about Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon's
contention that his upcoming meeting with his Pakistani
counterpart would focus on terrorism, Basit said Islamabad was
not averse to discussing the issue as "terrorism concerns us
the most".

However, Pakistan is also looking forward to resumption
of dialogue that covers other issues like the military
stand-off on Siachen and Sir Creek maritime boundary dispute
that "continue to bedevil" bilateral relations, he said.

In reply to yet another question, Basit said Pakistan
was not "begging with anyone" for the resumption of dialogue
with India.

"It is our desire that the two countries sit together
and resolve all issues peacefully. This stand reinforces our
responsible attitude," he added. PTI RHL
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