Talks revival in mutual interest

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Thursday asked India to honour its commitment to Kashmiri people and allow them
to exercise their right to self-determination.
“It is high time that India honour its commitments to the world community and the Kashmiri people by allowing
them to exercise their right to self-determination,” said the Foreign Office spokesman, Abdul Basit addressing
his weekly press briefing.
“At the same time, Pakistan is committed to provide moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiris in their
struggle for self-determination,” he said in a reply to question on the latest situation in Indian Held Kashmir. He
said Pakistan agreed with Indian Home Minister Chidambaram’s statement that the situation in Jammu and
Kashmir was “very fragile” but did not agree with his assessment that the situation could be tackled through
effective administrative and political intervention.
“We do not agree that the situation can be rectified by administrative and half-hearted political measures,” he
said, “Kashmiris’ struggle for the right to self-determination cannot be brushed aside indefinitely,” he added.
The Amnesty International had also recently written to the Indian Home Minister asking for an end to the grim
situation in Held Kashmir.
Basit said that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani would meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the
Egyptian tourist resort of Sharm-ul-Sheikh on July 16 on the sidelines of Non-Aligned Movement summit.
He said, “The two leaders will hold talks over the composite dialogue and bilateral issues.” He said the Foreign
Secretaries of the two countries would also meet on the sidelines of NAM summit.
When asked about the recent exchange of prisoners’ lists between
Pakistan and India, he said Pakistan provided a list of 576 Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails to the Indian
government.
However, he said the Indian authorities had not yet provided the list of Pakistani prisoners in the Indian jails.
He said, “Under the agreement the two countries have to exchange the lists of the prisoners on July 1 and
January 1 every year and there is a breach of the bilateral agreement by India for not providing the list of
Pakistani prisoners in the India jails.
Talking about the prospects of resumption of Pak-India dialogue process, he said it was necessary for both the