TOKYO, Feb 23: Pakistan and India have made little "substantive" progress on Kashmir despite the breakthrough agreement to start a bus connecting the divided region, Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said on Wednesday.
"There has not been much progress in substantive issues. There has been progress, however, on people-to-people contacts and means of communications are much better," Mr Kasuri told a news conference at the end of a three-day visit to Tokyo.
"We hope, therefore, this (the bus) will lead to better interaction between Kashmiris on both sides. And hopefully they will start thinking of resolving the issue which has kept Pakistan and India divided for so long," he said.
Mr Kasuri said Pakistan was prepared to be "flexible" if India would do the same to broker a solution acceptable to the people of Kashmir. A bus service will begin on April 7 to connect Kashmiris for the first time since the Himalayan region was split in the war that erupted after the Sub-continent's 1947 partition on religious lines.
DR QADEER KHAN: Pakistan will not let any foreigner question Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of the country's nuclear bomb, who has been accused of leaking secrets to states including North Korea, Mr Kasuri said.
"We have refused direct interrogations by anyone. The reason is national sensitivity," Mr Kasuri told a press conference at the end of a three-day visit to Tokyo. Mr Kasuri said Pakistan had acted against Dr Khan even though the Pakistani opposition had accused the government of "succumbing to international pressure" against the local hero.
"Actions have been taken (against Mr Khan) and they are very strict. We are prepared... to investigate and share information," he said. He noted that Dr Khan had interacted with foreigners when he leaked information of the country's nuclear technology.
"In fact there were some foreigners involved. Pakistan has taken actions. Other foreigners, we hope actions will be taken against them by their governments," Mr Kasuri said. Dr Khan, who is credited with making Pakistan a nuclear power, confessed in Feb 2004 to leaking nuclear know-how to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Dr Khan was later pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf, who has repeatedly refused to allow the United States or the International Atomic Energy Agency to question him. "We have shared information with the International Atomic Energy Agency," Mr Kasuri said.
"We have shared all information we had on any issue relevant to this (Mr Khan) with the United States and friendly countries, definitely with the government of Japan," he said. "If there are new leads, we will investigate those," he added. -AFP
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