New Pak Foreign Minister wants to address Kashmir issue with a different approach

Pakistans new Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that the new government would like to address the Kashmir issue with a different approach, and would not put on hold progress in various areas of cooperation with India because of the impasse on Kashmir.

Islamabad, Apr 8 : Pakistan's new Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that the new government would like to address the Kashmir issue with a different approach, and would not put on hold progress in various areas of cooperation with India because of the impasse on Kashmir.

He said that adopting a different approach did not mean that Pakistan would forget Kashmir.

"We have been approaching the Kashmir problem from a particular angle and should now try a different approach. We are not forgetting it (Kashmir). It is important," the Dawn quoted him as saying his first policy statement.

He added that the new government would let progress made in Indo-Pak ties. "There are areas where we feel we need to move on to the mutual benefit of both the countries -- like trade," he said.

He added that Pakistan wanted regional stability, peace and greater understanding with India, so that "we can work together to the benefit of the region and its people".

Foreign secretaries of Pakistan and India would be shortly meeting to conclude the fourth round of the composite dialogue and initiate the fifth round. Kashmir was on the agenda of the composite dialogue, Quereshi said and added: "It is one of the top issues after peace and security and stability."

The foreign minister also said that the PPP-led coalition government was better placed than its predecessor to deal with the issue of terrorism. "This government is democratically elected and it can give ownership to the war," he said.

According to him, the previous government failed to carry the counter-terrorism agenda forward because it did not succeed in convincing the people that this was not an alien war and that it was a war affecting the common man, the country's economy and its cities.

Ruling out any drastic changes in foreign policy, he said: "We would not be reflecting what was done in the past, nor would we be rejecting what was done in national interest."

ANI