'Siachen issues look ripe for resolution'

ISLAMABAD: Acknowledging that the dialogue process with India had slowed down due to its domestic circumstances, Pakistan has said the two sides may be able to resolve Siachen and Sir Creek issues by early next year.
   
Pakistan's caretaker Foreign Minister Inamul Haq also said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could visit Islamabad after installation of the new government here during which an agreement on the two issues is expected to be reached.

"These are the two issues (Siachen and Sir Creek) that look ripe for resolution. They may be ready for approval by the time Prime Minister Singh visits us early next year," Haq said.
   
He also admitted that the dialogue between the two countries had slowed down due to the domestic circumstances in Pakistan.
   
"And yet we are on course and I wouldn't say anything has been derailed at all," Haq, who was in New Delhi to attend the SAARC ministerial meet, told 'Dawn' newspaper.
   
Singh is expected to visit Pakistan soon after a new government is installed in Islamabad after the January 8 parliamentary polls, he said after his meeting with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the sidelines of the SAARC conference.
   
"We'll need a month for the new administration to settle down and we can expect the Prime Minister to make his visit soon after that," he said.
   
Haq's optimism about the future of the peace process appeared to "flow from what sources said was a positive first meeting with Mukherjee," the report said.

The newspaper quoted the sources as saying that Mukherjee made "two important observations" during the meeting.

Mukherjee told Haq that India acknowledged Kashmir "was a dispute between the two countries," it said.

The Indian minister also "recalled that India had applied restraint in its public approach to Pakistan's domestic difficulties, particularly by not raising the issue of the state of emergency" at any public forum.

Haq, the sources said, acknowledged that the stance had "gone down well" with the Pakistan government.
   
The Pakistani minister presented Islamabad's known position on the Kashmir issue and sought its speedy resolution.
   
The sources said he listed "three doables in Kashmir that India could pursue with ease". These were improvement in the human rights situation, demilitarisation of Kashmir and seeking the greater involvement of Kashmiris in the peace process, the report said.

The daily said Mukherjee linked the demilitarisation to the reduction of violence in the state, which had a "tendency to go up and down at will".
   
Haq noted that a ceasefire along the Line of Control had worked well over the past four years.

The sources said Haq presented Pakistan's offer of a package of measures, which includes the proposed recording of current troop positions in Siachen, to pave the way for a solution.