Kasuri’s passionate plea for better Indo-Pak ties

ISLAMABAD: Former foreign minister Mian Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri has expressed the need for a “high degree of optimism” in dealing with relations between Pakistan and India as interrelations of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan took centre stage at the Jaipur Literary Festival (JLF) where panelists discussed the upswing in talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan besides India’s souring ties with its neighbour.
Kasuri had gone to Jaipur to attend the prestigious festival. A former Indian diplomat G Parthasarathy called for “a halt in border firing” to ensure the continuation of a meaningful dialogue. He has served in Pakistan in early 80’s. “You cannot have a dialogue when bullets are flying. Nobody hears the sound of the dialogue everyone hears the sound of the bullet,” Parthsarthi said. According to Indian media report Khurshid Kasuri and Parthasarathy were participating in a session titled “Descent into Chaos-Pakistan on the Brink” at the festival. Mian Khurshid Kasuri, who had been involved for a long time in the peace process between India and Pakistan, insisted that huge optimism was required to deal with bilateral relations. “Unless you have huge doses of optimism, you will not be able to proceed further on India-Pakistan relations,” he said. Making reference to a book by former Indian Prime Minster Manmohan Singh’s media adviser Sanjaya Baru “The Accidental Prime Minister,” he said that Baru’s book was supportive of his upcoming book “Neither a Hawk, nor a Dove,” an account of Pakistan’s foreign policy, particularly the peace process with India. “I have read (the book of) Sanjaya Baru that supports what I have written in my book. What Baru has written supports one hundred per cent what I have written... not only on Kashmir but also on Siachen,” Khurshid Kasuri said. “I have given entire framework. I have written an entire chapter on Pak Army as I see it. I am not an expert on Pak military like others but whatever I have written is completely authenticated,” he maintained.
Summing up his thoughts on Indo-Pak relations, Mian Kasuri said that former Indian prime minister “I K Gujral and I planted a sapling which I hope will be a tree now growing faster than the Indo-Pak relations.”
Ahmed Rashid, an expert on Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, pointed out that both of India’s neighbours had been through a crisis in recent times. Commenting on the recent elections in Afghanistan, which took place in the midst of a massive Taliban offensive, Rashid said, “Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have dramatically improved and chances are there that Afghanistan may enter into dialogue with the Afghan Taliban.” “It can happen only if Pakistani military pushes for it because most of the Taliban leadership resides in Pakistan. Pakistani military has to push Taliban into the dialogue,” he said. Rasheed pointed out that the Peshawar attack, which left nearly 150 school children dead last month served as “a horrible warning” galvanising political parties, government and military to come together on a common platform against extremism. “They have established a long-term plan which not just deals with military aspects of terrorism but also with education, jobs, madrasas and other such things,” he said. Meanwhile Anatol Lieven, professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service based in Doha and Qatar claimed that the loathing of Afghan Taliban for Pakistan made the process of dialogue difficult but still crucial. He said that he believed that the ongoing talks were capable of producing a change of heart in the Pakistani ranks.