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| Krishna ready to discuss Kashmir during his Pak visit | | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
NEW DELHI, May 20: In an extensive interview given to a newspaper External Affairs Minister SM Krishna has dealt with Jammu and Kashmir among other things, saying that during his visit to Islamabad next month this could well be discussed in case it is raised by Pakistan. He said India was ready to discuss every issue brought before it in its bid to build trust between the two countries.
The text of the interview given to a Chandigarh headquartered newspaper was released here today by External Affairs Minister where Krishna cited the decision taken during the meeting of Indian and Pakistani Prime Ministers at Bhutan's Capital Thimphu to remove the trust deficit between the two countries by talking to each other.
In the interview he reiterated India's stand that those responsible to 26/11 attack ought to be punished by Pakistan and indicated that India was ready to talk to Islamabad on all issues of mutual concern.
As for this change in India's stand Krishna talked of limited options before both the countries which were equipped with nuclear weapons. He said that there could not be any limited action across the border by India since this could lead to a full scale war and might well result in a nuclear showdown. He also referred to situation inside Pakistan and difficulties pointed out by it in the wake of this.
Answering a question about Kashmir which is often raised by Pakistan Krishna said, "I will not certainly at this point of time go into the details as to how we are going to solve the Kashmir problem. The Kashmir problem has been marooning us for so long and it will rather be too simplistic on my part as Foreign Minister to say that we are going to solve the Kashmir problem. But our efforts will certainly be to eliminate the prevailing distrust. The central theme of my visit to Pakistan is to make an effort to eliminate the distrust among us. I think if we succeed, something would have been achieved."
About the claim made by former Pakistan foreign minister KM Kasuri that India and Pakistan were close to a solution on Kashmir when Musharraf was in power, Krishna remarked, "during the Shimla talks, it was said that something was clinched but early that morning it did not materialise. So there are so many ifs and buts, turns and roundabouts. I will certainly not like to dwell on that."
He also said, "with reference to Kashmir, India's position is very clear. We do not have to repeat our stand which is that it belongs to the Indian Union and that the Pakistan is in illegal possession of certain parts of Jammu and Kashmir, which really belong to India according to the Constitution. That is our stated position."
About Siachen he said, "It is too early in the day for us to be looking at tension points. It will be on the table if Pakistan raises it."
About the contentious issue of water between India and Pakistan, the External Affairs Minister said that "we have the Indus Water Treaty and the Indus Water Commission. The experts met recently in Delhi. If Pakistan has any concerns, those can always be referred to the Commission or to the committee of experts. So that is why we have said that on water, or anything else, we are willing to talk. According to me, with reference to water issues, there is already a mechanism which is in place and this can always be applied."
About the criticism by BJP regarding Government's recent peace overtures to Pakistan, Krishna said, "I think when NDA (led by BJP) was in power they did talk to Pakistan and they took a lot more days talking to Pakistan then we have done in the six years of UPA rule. So they need to look at it from the larger perspective of our neighbourhood. The larger perspective is how long are we going to keep on fighting? I think we will have to talk to Pakistan and come to an understanding with them because that will be in our interest and that will be in their interest and in the interest of all our neighbours as well."
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