LAHORE - Mian Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, former Foreign Minister of Pakistan has emphasized the need for internal unity if Pakistan is to make meaningful progress in the field of foreign policy.
He said that in the current state of disunity and lack of direction in Pakistan, no country, friend or foe, knows how or who to deal with Pakistan. He said this was a very dangerous situation and could not be allowed to continue and that it was the primary duty of all the stakeholders in Pakistan to bring this to an end. He made these remarks at the Government College University, Lahore while accepting Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions in International Relations and Diplomacy, promoting Pakistan’s relations with major world powers and neighbours and for his efforts to promote regional peace and connectivity.
Kasuri expressed his happiness at the fact that the recent book ‘In Pursuit of Peace’ by Ambassador S. K Lambah of India who had been the backchannel negotiator between Pakistan and India during PM Manmohan Singh’s tenure had comprehensively confirmed that what Mr Kasuri had said in his book ‘Neither a Hawk nor a Dove’ published much earlier that Pakistan and India had agreed to resolve all outstanding issues including Jammu and Kashmir.
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Kasuri expressed his pleasant surprise at Lambah’s revelation that Modi asked him to continue the dialogue in 2014 on the same Four Points Formula. The former FM said that he was aware that because of the negativity engendered by Hindutva supporters under the Modi government, the relationship between the two countries had become exceedingly tense. PM Modi, Kasuri said, cannot rule India forever. Even at the best of times, he was able to secure about 37percent of the total votes with an overwhelming majority voting for parties who are by and large opposed to the current policies of the BJP government on Muslims, Kashmir and Pakistan.