Fast or slow, India can decide: Kasuri

Interacting face-to-face on the show with Minister of State for External Affairs Digvijay Singh, who put across the Indian viewpoint, Kasuri confessed he had expected External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha to be on the show.

‘‘I have met Mr Singh and he is a man of peace. I have also interacted with Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha whom I expected to be here.’’ Responding to Kasuri’s initial statement, Singh said it was not a question of fast or slow for India. According to him, New Delhi was being cautious in its approach following the setbacks at Lahore and Agra.

‘‘The Prime Minister has announced some measures and we are waiting for Pakistan’s reply now. After Lahore and Agra, we are handling matters with caution. Let us first resolve initial problems and then we can move to talks at the highest level.’’

To this, Kasuri said Pakistan will respond positively to confidence building measures announced by Vajpayee and would, in fact, prefer broadening the scope of people-to-people contact.

‘‘We have decided to respond to confidence building measures stated by Prime Minister Vajpayee. We must remember that 99 per cent people in India and Pakistan cannot afford to travel by air. We want to broaden the scope from resuming airlinks to restoration of rail and road links too as this will improve people-to-people contact.’’

Bringing in Jammu and Kashmir into the discussion, Kasuri said a composite dialogue was needed to address these matters. Singh, on his part, said New Delhi was prepared to discuss all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir. ‘‘We have always maintained that dialogue was the only solution to resolve differences between both countries. But we have asked Pakistan to stop cross-border terrorism to create the right atmosphere for dialogue.’’

PTI reports from Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali tonight held a meeting with leaders of major political parties, seeking to build a consensus on the peace initiative with India as Islamabad virtually backed New Delhi’s stand that careful preparations were needed for summit-level talks.

Almost all invited leaders including Muthahida Majlis Amal’s Ahah Ahmad Noorani, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, senior leader of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Mukdhum Amin Fahim, Pakistan Muslim League-N’s Javed Hashmi and head of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q Chodhary Sujat Hussain attended the meeting at Jamali’s official residence.

President Pervez Musharraf, in an interview to a private Pakistani TV channel, said Pakistan could work for a no-war pact with India followed by mutural reduction of troops and de-nuclearisation of South Asia if the Kashmir issue was resolved.

Asserting that Pakistan was ready for a composite bilateral dialogue at any level to discuss all outstanding issues, including Kashmir, Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said Islamabad was also ready to get rid of its nuclear arsenal if India did the same.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said today that Pakistan did not accept conversion of the status of LoC into a permanent border between India and Pakistan.