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Pakistan has no new ideas on Kashmir

Shyam Bhatia
India Abroad Correspondent in London

Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar of Pakistan has admitted that he has no new ideas to offer on Kashmir, but says Islamabad is preparing for the New Delhi summit by taking a positive approach, "an approach that says the problem should be solved by taking into account the wishes of the people.

"That's the new idea, the settlement of the Kashmir question is linked to the Kashmiri people," Sattar told interviewer Tim Sebastian on BBC Television's Hard Talk programme.

In a hard-hitting, half-hour interview on Friday night, Sattar was constantly on the defensive against a wide range of questions about Islamabad's repeated violation of human rights, the military regime's suppression of democracy and its continuing, unqualified support for the murderous policies of the Taleban regime in Afghanistan.

Pressed on what he knew about recent Taleban massacres in the northern town of Mazar-e-Sharif, in which Taleban fighters killed 1,000 civilians, Sattar replied, "There has been fighting and in fighting people die; there's a civil war and in a civil war things happen."

Asked if Pakistan was prepared to condemn the Taleban, Sattar said, "We didn't oppose UN resolutions condemning the Taleban. Security Council Resolution 1333 has been accepted by us. It calls for the prohibition of military assistance to the Taleban and Pakistan is observing the requirements of that resolution."

He denied that Pakistan was internationally isolated and said, "Thirty countries have received the chief executive [military ruler General Pervez Musharraf]. Today I met the foreign secretary of the United Kingdom, tomorrow I'm meeting the foreign minister of Canada, then I'm meeting the secretary of state of the United States."

When Sebastian pointed out that Pakistan had been condemned for the suspension of democracy and for human rights violations by the European parliament, the Commonwealth and other international institutions, Sattar responded, "I'm not saying Pakistan is operating democratic rules. But we have three years extra-constitutional rule legitimised by the Supreme Court.

"There are preparations for a return to genuine, sustainable democracy. The Supreme Court gave us three years and October 12, 2002, is the cut-off date."

"We had a so-called democracy before and now we have a so-called military regime. Look at what this government has done for restraint, responsibility and building a base for sound democracy.

"What I would like to suggest is that the military regime in Pakistan is a technocratic regime with General Pervez Musharraf at its head."

Asked by Sebastian to justify the harassment of political parties and the detention of people without due process, Sattar said, "The number of people in custody is very small."

Alluding to the military regime's crackdown on political meetings last March 23, Sattar added, "One political party wanted to hold a big demonstration in Lahore. We said, 'You can't disturb law and order'. Now they are holding meetings in hotels and private homes. They are openly invited to discuss politics on TV. People under custody are people who have plundered the country and are now being sued in civil courts."

The Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The complete coverage

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