India-Pak close to striking deal on Siachen: Kasuri

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid M Kasuri said on Sunday that India and Pakistan were close to reaching an agreement to resolve Siachen issue and suggested a ‘breakthrough’ on this was expected next month to enable prime minister Manmohan Singh’s to visit Pakistan.

He said meetings of foreign secretaries and foreign ministers of the two countries in Delhi next month would hopefully achieve a breakthrough to enable Mr Singh’s visit to Pakistan.

Mr Kasuri said he would visit New Delhi next month to attend the wedding of the daughter of Panchayati Raj Mani Shanker Aiyar during which he hopes to meet external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee.

“As a foreign minister of Pakistan, I know we are very close to an agreement. I will not go into details. It depends on political will and I hope that the PM and the (new) foreign minister of India will show that political will,” Mr Kasuri. The foreign secretaries, who are meeting in Delhi on November 14-15, will work out dates for a formal meeting between the two, Mr Kasuri said.

The Pakistan foreign minister said he would not attend the meeting being called by India on Afghanistan to be held in Delhi on November 18-19 and instead, minister of state for economic affairs Hina Rabbani Khar would attend it.
Pressed for details on the back-channel talks being held to resolve Siachen dispute, Mr Kasuri said “I said my understanding as a foreign minister is that they are close to an agreement. What is now needed is political will. I can not go into details.”

Asked whether a breakthrough is expected at foreign secretaries meeting to be held in New Delhi on November 14-15 to review the composite dialogue process followed by foreign ministers review meeting, Mr Kasuri said “I will tell you what we will try and do. I can speak for Pakistan. We want that your PM should be able to pay a visit to Pakistan.
“These high-level visits are important and do not ever underestimate them. People commit that mistake. That is where the human element comes in. High-level visits are important,” he said.

“Both foreign ministers and our foreign secretaries will try and achieve the same thing during our meetings. We should pave the way to your PM’s visit to Pakistan and to make his visit a success and substantive one because it is very important for India-Pak relations that prime minister pays the visit and it achieves something concrete,” he said.
When pointed out that Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf himself said Mr Singh’s visit as and when it takes place should be substantive, Mr Kasuri said, “That is why I said it should be the objective of the foreign ministers of both the countries that happens. Glitches should be removed by the foreign ministers,” he said.

“The foreign secretaries will be meeting. We have two very experienced foreign secretaries. I can now even speak about India foreign secretary, (Shivshankar Menon) because I have dealt with him when he was the High Commissioner here. He is an experienced, perhaps more experienced in India about Pakistan then anybody in India today because he was posted here.

“So, we have (Pakistan foreign secretary) Riaz Muhammad Khan who knows Mr Menon when he was here and the two also knew each other from their days in China where they were Ambassadors of their respective countries.

“We have two foreign secretaries very experienced and hopefully the two Foreign Ministers will be able to make that next step possible. Because now is the turn of the Prime Minister to visit Pakistan. I would like it to be this year but I do not know. That depends on Foreign Minister of India.”

Mr Kasuri said Siachen was one issue on which the two sides could achieve progress besides discussing solutions to the Kashmir issue and the setting up joint mechanism to deal with issues relating to terrorism.