Back channel talks aimed at hammering out a solution to the Kashmir issue that is acceptable to all parties are taking place, he told the media during an Iftar dinner in Islamabad on Monday night. He was asked about the chances of the settlement of the Kashmir issue in the light of India's stand that borders cannot be changed and Pakistan's stand that Line of Control is not acceptable.
"Besides formal standpoints of the two countries on Kashmir, something different is being discussed by other sources," he said in a reference to "back-channel contacts between former diplomats and other experts from India and Pakistan, but gave no details, Dawn reported on Tuesday.
Kasuri said relations between the two countries have been improving and there has been progress on the Kashmir specific confidence building measures both at diplomatic and other channels.
"There were Indian troops on Pakistan's border in the past but now the situation has changed and both countries are talking to each other on all issues including the core issue of Kashmir," he was quoted as saying by state-run APP news agency.
Travel access initiated by the two countries, travel across the LoC without passport, meeting of Hurriyat leaders with Indian leadership and the visit of All Party Hurriyat Conference leaders to Pakistan are some of the achievements in Pak-India relations which were not at this stage due to stand off Indian forces, he pointed out.
Referring to the recent meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Havana, Kasuri said the joint statement clearly indicated that there should be useful discussion on Kashmir issue.
He said both countries agreed to have bilateral and joint mechanism to tackle the issue of terrorism, which was also a step forward in improving relations between the two. Stressing that the solution of Kashmir issue should be acceptable to Pakistan, India and Kashmiris as all three have different stand on the issue, he hoped that besides the stand of three stakeholders on the Kashmir issue, there could be some "out of box" solution to this issue.
On India's stance that there was Pakistan hand in the Mumbai blasts, Kasuri said Pakistan, besides condemning the act, offered to join the investigation if India provides proof.
"So far the Indian government has not provided proof to Pakistan for this act of terrorism."
Kasuri expressed unhappiness over Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta's charge that Pakistan was trying to play down the threat of international terrorism by labelling the Taliban uprising as an ethnic issue.
He said an understanding reached between President Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai during a meeting with US President George W Bush last month to avoid airing their differences in public should also apply to foreign ministers of the two countries.
He said Spanta, who made the remarks in Kabul on Sunday, should not have spoken like this "while he was going to have a meeting with me." Kasuri said Pakistan neither wanted to give the Afghan insurgency an ethnic colour nor interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs.
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