Istanbul (Turkey), June 9: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that his country welcomed the speech given by Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh during his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir.
Talking to a wire-service on the sidelines of the CICA Asia summit here, Qureshi said: “I think the speech made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was a very visionary speech. I welcome that speech in Kashmir and I think it’s a good offer we should welcome it.”
 Pertinently, on Monday, Dr Singh, during his visit to Kashmir, had said that he and his government was ready to talk to any separatist group that showed a willingness to give up violence and the use of guns.
 Dr Singh had further said that he was committed to ushering an atmosphere of peace and stability in Jammu and Kashmir.
REMOVING BLACK LAWS IMPERATIVE: BASIT
 Meanwhile, Pakistan foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit Wednesday said that only the removal of ‘black laws’ such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and Public Safety Act in Kashmir “would prove India’s seriousness to end the long pending issue.”
 Talking to the BBC in Islamabad, Basit said that India should pullout troops from Kashmir, which could prove pivotal in resolving the Kashmir crisis.
 He stressed that the people of Kashmir wanted the right to self-determination, which, he said, was eminent from the ‘freedom struggle’ in the region.
 “So, it is a basic question whether India is serious in settling the Kashmir issue or is just pretending a change through visits by its political leadership to Srinagar,” Basit said, while referring to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s two day visit to the valley.
 Basit also admitted that the trust deficit existed since the partition in 1947, and that it was important to bridge that gap in order to tackle the menace of terrorism and resolve all pending issues.
 “If they (India) talk about terrorism, which is also Pakistan’s major problem, mutual cooperation between both neighbouring nations was a must to tackle this menace,” he said.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST