Pakistan must give up
its obsession with Kashmir, Ex envoy Husain Haqqani,
PTI 4 March 2015
Pakistan no longer enjoys the support of international
community on the Kashmir issue and must give up its "ideological
obsession" with it, a former top Pakistani diplomat has said here.
Calling for a "decisive shift" in Pakistan's Kashmir approach, Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's envoy to the US between 2008 and 2011, said issues around 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed could prove stumbling blocks to lasting peace.
A vocal critic of Pakistan military's control over
the civilian government, Haqqani described the Indo-Pak relationship in terms
of a "bad marriage" and insisted it was time for a decisive shift in
the country's approach to the Kashmir dispute.
"Pakistan needs to have the kind of approach China has over Taiwan. It doesn't need to give up its claim but it needs to move on other issues first," Haqqani said, adding, Pakistan no longer has the support of the international community on the Kashmir dispute.
"Pakistan needs to have the kind of approach China has over Taiwan. It doesn't need to give up its claim but it needs to move on other issues first," Haqqani said, adding, Pakistan no longer has the support of the international community on the Kashmir dispute.
"Pakistan needs to have the kind of approach China has over Taiwan. It doesn't need to give up its claim but it needs to move on other issues first," Haqqani said, adding, Pakistan no longer has the support of the international community on the Kashmir issue.
"We need to take
a more pragmatic approach rather than making it an ideological obsession,"
he said.
Speaking at the Royal
Institute of International Affairs here at Chatham House yesterday, a day
before Indian foreign secretary S Jaishankar met with his Pakistani counterpart
Aizaz Chaudhry in Islamabad, Haqqani noted: "It's a good thing that India
and Pakistan are resuming talks. But unfortunately the fundamentals of the
relationship are yet to be addressed.
"After initial
bonhomie, the Indians will want to know what is happening with the Lakhvi
trial; what is happening with Hafiz Saeed; why is Lashkar-e-Taiba still openly
operating as Jamaat-ud-Dawa," said Haqqani, currently senior fellow and
director of South and Central Asia at the Hudson Institute in Washington.
Asked how the impasse
could be broken, he said: "Pakistan is part of the international community
that has agreed that terrorism is not acceptable. So there are several aspects
where responsibility can be fixed."
Haqqani's time as
ambassador to the US overlapped with the assassination of Al-Qaeda chief Osama
Bin Laden, a development he believes had a lasting impact on the country's
image.
"I was ambassador
in the US when Bin Laden was shot in Pakistan. I think we owe an explanation to
the world as to why he was there," said the author of 'Magnificent
Delusions', a catalogue of the Pakistan-US relationship over the years.
Delivering the
lecture, 'Pakistan, Afghanistan and a History of Mistrust', Haqqani highlighted
that Indian presence in Afghanistan is based on trade, aid and education ties
and it is not necessarily inimical to Pakistan's interests.
Calling India "an
imaginary threat," Haqqani said, "Parity with India is not an
attainable objective, as quite simply size matters. India's economy is 10 times
larger. It is a kind of psychological and political insecurity that has held
Pakistan back. The best strategy would be to focus inward."
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