Press Release

Transcript of Briefing by His Excellency Mr. Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Secretary in Islamabad (Islamabad; May 20, 2008)

Foreign Secretary: EAM has used the time after his arrival for meetings with political leaders. He called on the PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif. He just had a call on Asif Ali Zardari. He will be calling on Asfandyar Wali Khan later. He will attend a dinner, which has very kindly been arranged by the High Commissioner to which he has also invited several leaders from Pakistan side. What has emerged so far and I will try sum up and then will answer a few questions. You must remember we are 24 hours into what is going to be 48 hours visit. So what I can tell you now is a work-in-progress. What has emerged so far very clearly is that both sides have the will and determination to carry forward the process of improving bilateral relations to move towards full normalization as rapidly as possible. When we reviewed the fourth round of composite dialogue with the Pakistani Foreign Secretary, we both expressed satisfaction at what we have achieved at various interactions during the fourth round. We feel the Composite Dialogue is very important for improving our relationship. I stress this because there has been a general impression that there was a hiatus in the dialogue process. I stress that determination has been very strong on both the sides, among the political leadership, among the governments and certainly there has been a popular support. 

We both raised several issues that are of interest to us. The primary task of the Foreign Secretaries in the dialogue is to discuss Peace & Security and the Jammu & Kashmir and the look into the work of all the other six groups. So we did that. Both sides made proposals to see how we can proceed further in these areas. Several proposals were made by both the sides across the LOC CBMs, on making some of the CBMs already agreed in the past more effective. We also made other proposals for the economic and commercial relationship which also figured in some details in the conversations which Foreign Minister Shri Mukherjee had with the political leadership earlier this evening. There is great potential for improving commercial relations and we would like to take further steps into that direction. The reason I do not want to go further in listing all that is frankly, we are still working on all that. We will carry on our conversation during the rest of the day and tomorrow. Tomorrow, we are hoping that the Minister will call on the President and the Prime Minister. He will hold talks with his counterpart Mr. Qureshi and we hope that two have much more for you because both the ministers will meet you. I will leave it there. 

Question:- You discussed the issue of prisoners. Did you take up the clemency issue of Sarabjit Singh?

Foreign Secretary: We discussed the issue of all prisoners and of the release of all prisoners. We have already appreciated the fact that Pakistan has deferred action in Sarabjit case. Frankly, this is larger humanitarian problem and not one person. This one case has attracted attention. But we do feel that all these prisoners need to be dealt with humanitarian manner to the extent possible. We were informed that Pakistan is releasing our fishermen soon. We informed the Pakistani side that we have released all the Pakistani fishermen who were in our custody last week. They are now back in Pakistan. We discussed what the Judicial committee is doing. The judges will soon be visiting Pakistan. We need to try and move along with this issue and deal with it in a humanitarian way.

Question: What are the views of civilian leadership in Pakistan on Kashmir?

Foreign Secretary:- I think both sides made several proposals on cross LOC measures to improve travel, to facilitate trade and even for the existing measures for some of the bus to increase the frequency, to make easier for the people to get permits. There is fair amount of overlap between our proposals and the Pakistani proposals. Both sides put proposals on the table.

Question:- …(inaudible)…. Terrorism… and Dawood Ibrahim.

Foreign Secretary:- Generally what we discussed is Peace and Security which includes both working against terrorism. It is a scourge for both of us. There is need for both of us to take effective actions At this stage, it is not necessary for me to bring evidence against Dawood Ibrahim. I think there is an Interpol red corner notice, he is on UN Security Council list. I think everybody knows, who he is; what he has done and why he is wanted. But yes, we discussed how we can cooperate against terrorism effectively.

Question: Two questions. One on demilitarization of Kashmir and secondly, what about report of burning of Samjhauta Express.?

Foreign Secretary:- We have an ongoing process of exchanging information on issues where we think the either sides has interest.. We have had two meetings of Joint Anti-Terror mechanism where this subject was discussed at the larger extent. On the larger question on Jammu &Kashmir and various ideas on improving the situation, yes we discussed that. But we did not go into the level of details at this stage you are asking about.

Question:- CBI Chief met Mr. Mukherjee and there was a list of 20 wanted people?

Foreign Secretary:- There are a lists and lists. There was a list of 20, there was a list of 39 and so on. ……One of the people on the original list of 20 is dead. We need to deal with the issue. There are dangerous people out there who mean us harm and who have shown capacity to harm us. 

Question:- There are larger problems. You have responded to Kashmir issues but Siachen and Sir Creek are there. We were told that these two problems can be solved. What has been progress on these in the fourth round?

Foreign Secretary:- You are right. All these problems are solvable. But the questions is have we found the solution which suits both the sides. As of now, I cannot confirm that we have. Both these two issues will continue to be discussed tomorrow and I do not want to prejudge what is going to happen tomorrow. But certainly we have made considerable progress in the three years of composite dialogue. We have narrowed down our differences in finding common grounds. On Sir Creek, we done a joint survey not only on the ground but also of the Creek. We have a common map and common understanding of what we are dealing here. We hope we are much much closer to settling it. On Siachen, we have two kinds of proposals on the table. One is to actually start dealing with the environmental consequences of the area together and to look at the possibility of allowing mountain climbing expeditions in the area. So that in a sense, there are environmental concerns which affect both of us in the area. The other is the issue of making it a mountain of peace. We still are looking for a way which works for both the sides. But we are both determined to do that. 

Question:- Issue of violation of ceasefire on LOC firing…

Foreign Secretary:- We discussed the issues relevant to Peace and security which include the issue of cross border infiltration and every thing. The actual incidents that happened in the recent past have already been raised at other forums. There are direct conversations between DGMOs. There are flag meetings when something happens. We have a way of dealing with that.

Question:- Does India believe Jammu and Kashmir is unfinished agenda of partition. Secondly, whether India is a secure country for Pakistanis to visit?

Foreign Secretary:- The answer to first question is no. Yes to the second question.

Question:- Are you satisfied the ceasefire is holding well?

Foreign Secretary:- Today in our discussion, both sides reiterated that they attach great value to the ceasefire that both sides want to ceasefire to hold. That is absolutely clear.

Question:- Did the Pakistani side reiterated its visit for the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit Pakistan? 

Foreign Secretary:- Ask me tomorrow.

Question:- Whether some agreements are being signed tomorrow?

Foreign Secretary: We are close to several agreements. But after all we are meeting after some hiatus when there were no meetings. I am not sure whether we will be signing many agreements. What we will be doing is to bring them to a stage where they can be signed. There are several agreements. But at the end of this round, we will give you the details.

Question:- Whether any discussion on India-Pakistan-Iran Gas pipeline?

Foreign Secretary:- Yes, we discussed that. We are in serious need of natural gas. Both economies need that. We talked about how serious this project is. This conversation would continue.

Question:- Tangible progress made on Kashmir?

Foreign Secretary:-- You have to take it over a longer tenure. From starting this round of dialogue from January 2004, there has been unparalleled discussion on J & K issue. That has certainly narrowed the difference and helped to produce the ways in which we can cooperate. Srinagar- Muzafarabad bus is an example. There are other things we have done so far. So at the end of tomorrow, we will tell you what we have achieved in this round.  

Question:- …(inaudible)… internal affairs of Pakistan impact on talks between the two countries?

Foreign Secretary:- Just to make it clear that Pakistan's internal affairs are Pakistan's internal affairs. But despite whatever you say, we conducted successful and productive fourth round of Composite Dialogue. That has been a useful round. Today what we heard from Pakistan's present political leadership was a commitment to carry forward the dialogue process and normalize relations. We have an interest in working together and solving the issues that divide us, and creating an atmosphere free of violence to do all that. We reiterated our commitment.

Question:- …(inaudible)…….. Kashmir dispute to the next generation. Your comments?

Foreign Secretary:- We also want that we should solve all disputes including the Kashmir issue. We are here for this purpose.

Question:- Do you feel that you can solve the disputes?

Foreign Secretary:- If we thought we could not do our jobs, we would not have been here

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