Islamabad, Feb 7: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that neither he, nor the people of Pakistan have any knowledge about the proposal of Kashmir solution evolved by the previous government.
 In an interview to a private television channel, Qureshi said, the proposal was never debated in the country thus it is unknown to anyone.
 Khurshid Mehmood Kasoori, Foreign Minister of the previous government in Pakistan has been saying that India and Pakistan had almost reached a solution and just the announcement of the same was remaining.
 Qasoori said the proposal was a secret between selected individuals and there was no record of the same in foreign office.
 To a question Qureshi said that importance of back channel diplomacy notwithstanding, the disputes are finally solved through formal efforts.
 He said that four rounds of composite dialogue were completed during the tenure of previous government while one round was held during the sitting government.
 The Mumbai incident has of course affected the process and unfortunately India adopted a rigid position in this scenario.
 Now as the domestic pressure is growing on India for the resumption of composite dialogue, the authorities are finding it hard to change their position, he said.
 To another question he said that Indian involvement in insurgency in certain areas of Pakistan was raised by the prime minister with his Indian counterpart which was mentioned in Sharm-el-Sheikh document.
 Qureshi said that India wanted to isolate Pakistan diplomatically but due to effective diplomatic efforts by the country, “their designs failed.”
 He said that Pakistan has certain outstanding issues with India which are being recognized by the world adding but it does not mean that the two countries cannot move forward.
 The Minister said there may be progress on the solution of Kashmir dispute but it cannot be said that it would get resolved during the tenure of present government.
 He said that it is in the interest of Pakistan to have good relations with the neighbours because the country has a number of economic challenges, which need attention.
 To have normal relations with the neighbours is a key in this direction, he added.
 Responding yet to another question the Minister said that getting engaged with US is in Pakistan’s interest.
 He said that Pakistan’s relationship with US is neither of compliance nor of confrontation.
 Pakistan has raised the issue of drone attacks with US forcefully and they are now seriously thinking to transfer the drones’ technology to country, he said.
 The Americans wanted Pakistan to expand the circle of military operation but the country did not comply with their demand he said adding; “We will keep our domestic conditions in view for making such decisions”.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 7 Feb 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 7 Feb 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 8 Feb 2010 00:00:00 IST