Pakistan Link, "Gujral says no to priority talks on Kashmir," 22 February 1998

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister I. K. Gujral is hopeful that the next round of Indo-Pak secretary level talks will start soon and it will cover all the eight points agreed to at the Islamabad meeting in June last year.

In an exclusive interview with NNI at his sprawling official residence here where he looked relaxed in the last days of his prime ministership, Gujral said that during his meeting with Nawaz Sharif in Dhaka "we again tried to smoothen the path".

Replying to a question that what was the major hurdle in continuation of talks, Gujral said it is very easy to blame the other side but as a matter of fact Pakistan deviated from the agreed formula. "After the Male meeting we had formulated eight points and it was agreed to continue with it..." But, Gujral said, that suddenly a new formulation came from Pakistan that the first point that related to Kashmir be discussed first.

He said that he wants to make it clear that Kashmir will not be discussed first. "It is not possible... will not be the possibility."

He said that India wants to talk on all eight issues simultaneously and that is on what "we had agreed". He said that again in Dhaka it was decided that all eight subjects should be taken up.

Gujral said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had shared his views that Kashmir is a longstanding dispute and its solution will take some time. "Improvement of relations will be a process and not an event," he said.

Gujral was of the view that Pakistan and India have moved ahead in defusing tension between the two hostile countries, which have fought two wars over Kashmir. "I think relations between India and Pakistan today are comparatively more harmonious than they were several years in the past," Gujral told NNI's Editor-in-Chief Hafiz Abdul Khaliq.

He said that there are many problems between Pakistan and India, which are to be sorted out. He said that the fact that he and his Pakistani counterpart are keen to resolve the issues itself is very encouraging. "The fact that we met a few times in the last several months and the fact that we are now choosing to emphasize a great deal on the Saarc route reflect we are moving in the right direction...Both of us have a great deal of optimism," said the prime minister who is heading an interim government till the new government is installed after the ongoing elections.

Gujral said that there was a national consensus in India that relations between the two countries should improve. "I had never come across any hurdle by the bureaucracy or my political opponents," Gujral said to which the two high-ranking officials of the Indian External Affairs Ministry present during the interview nodded.

Referring to the Indian media, Gujral said, "You will never see criticism on our (Gujral-Nawaz) meetings and discussions... Even when we are talking in terms of Saarc, and talking in terms of free trade by 2001 and now when we met in Dhaka we did not see any negative move here."

Criticizing the media in Pakistan, Gujral said, "Difficulty is that media in Pakistan takes a line and then one starts thinking that that is the right line...Right line basically is that there are many things, which are involved and therefore we have decided in Dhaka that we'll discuss all subjects simultaneously."

About Hindu fundamentalist party BJP's claim that they will get Pakistan declared a terrorist state, Gujral said one or the other party may have said this but it is not an issue. "Our this election is very unusual...these are election without any issue. Every party is trying to discover an issue. I don't think Pakistan is an issue at all."

But at the same time Gujral sounded like a typical Indian politician by holding Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) responsible for all evils in their country. "My government has specific information about ISI plans to strike on three or four places during the elections," he claimed.

The Indian prime minister reiterated his suggestion to make Samjotha Express a daily train service between India and Pakistan instead of twice a week. "I also suggested to Mr. Nawaz Sharif that the number of visas being issued per day be multiplied by three... For this purpose we can increase our strength by 20 more persons in the high commissions."

Gujral said that Sharif agreed to his suggestion during their meeting in Edinburgh, "but it was not implemented".

The Indian prime minister said that in both the countries there are divided families, friends, trade and other relations. "The most obnoxious thing is police reporting. There can't be anything worse than this...A bugger from anywhere in the world is alright...but a Pakistani cannot be allowed." He said this type of issue needs to resolved on immediate basis.--NNI