Pak may seek withdrawal of Armed Forces Act from Kashmir

Pakistan is expected to seek the withdrawal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act [AFSP] in Jammu and Kashmir and the release of political prisoners to improve the ground situation in Kashmir during the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks, diplomatic sources said today.

Senior Pakistani officials have broadly classified the issues to be raised during the meeting of the two foreign secretaries in Islamabad on June 24 into four categories.

These include outstanding issues like the Kashmir issue, humanitarian matters like the release of prisoners and fishermen, terrorism and trade and commerce, sources told PTI.

The Pakistani side will press for strengthening of confidence-building measures in these areas so that the two sides can ultimately make headway in addressing issues that have bedevilled relations for many decades, they said.     

There are indications that the Pakistani side could ask for the withdrawal of the AFSP Act in Jammu and Kashmir on the ground that the security forces have been involved in human rights violations.

Islamabad is also expected to seek the release of the release of political prisoners to improve the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir when foreign secretary Salman Bashir meets his Indian counterpart Nirupama Rao.
    
The foreign secretaries will prepare the ground for a meeting between external affairs minister SM Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Islamabad on July 15.

The sources also said there is a realisation at the highest levels of the foreign office of the need to lower tensions in the region while at the same time preventing any further deterioration of bilateral relations.

In this regard, the two sides are expected to discuss ways to improve cooperation in countering terrorism, the sources added.

There is a feeling in the Pakistani leadership that there is a need to upgrade the existing Joint Anti-Terrorism Mechanism, which was set up in 2006.

Meanwhile, foreign office spokesperson Abdul Basit today said Pakistan wants to firm up Confidence Building Measures at the upcoming foreign secretary level talks to bridge the trust defecit with India.

"Pakistan has always been promoting the cause of peace and stability in South Asia and we are keenly looking forward to our engagement with India with a view to promoting this cause in the interest of peace and prosperity in our region," Basit told a weekly briefing.

"We hope that this engagement should be a sustained and purposeful engagement (and it) should address all these issues so that we bridge this trust deficit," he said. Pakistan is approaching the "resumed engagement with a positive mindset" with the "hope that this leads to results which are in our mutual interest and result in long-term benefits to the people of Pakistan and India," Basit said.

However, the foreign office appears to be undecided on how to respond to India's call for firm action against anti-India groups like Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed and militant leaders like LeT founder and Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.

Despite several dossiers provided by India on Saeed, Pakistani leaders like foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and interior minister Rehman Malik have contended there isn't enough evidence to act against the JuD chief.

In the run-up to the meeting of the foreign secretaries, the government has been given the go-ahead by parliament's standing committee on national security to take "difficult decisions" to normalise ties with India, the Dawn newspaper reported today.

The advice from the parliamentary panel was part of eight recommendations made by it for the forthcoming meetings of the foreign secretaries, interior ministers and foreign ministers.

Home minister P Chidambram will meet interior minister Rahman Malik on the sidelines of a Saarc minister's meeting in Islamabad on June 26 while a meeting of foreign ministers is slated for July 15.

The standing committee on national security said tough decisions are necessitated due to the changing global scenario.

However, it said all such decisions should be in conformity with Pakistan's long-standing stance on issues like Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek and sharing of river waters.

The committee asked the foreign office to rethink policies for relations with India and to dovetail them with Pakistan's long-term strategic objectives.

Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, during their meeting on the sidelines of the Saarc summit in April, tasked the foreign secretaries to find ways to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries and to finalise the agenda for the meeting of the foreign ministers.

Foreign minister Qureshi yesterday chaired an inter-ministerial meeting at the foreign office to prepare for the meeting of the foreign secretaries.

The meeting was also attended by representatives of the military establishment, including the Inter-Services Intelligence.