Tasnim Aslam

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday said it was for a "win-win" solution on Kashmir that would satisfy India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir besides bringing peace and prosperity to the region.

It refuted suggestions that by agreeing to a joint search for a mutually acceptable solution with India on Kashmir at Havana, Pakistan had diluted its stand that the issue had to be resolved in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a plebiscite.

Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said the joint statement by President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not imply "a change in our position."

"We have repeatedly said, and this is our position that the Line of Control — the status quo — is not a solution. We are not talking about a piece of territory, we are talking about the destiny of a people, the Kashmiris, and naturally, a mutually acceptable solution to Pakistan and India has to be acceptable to the people of Kashmir as well."

When Pakistan continued to talk about the aspirations of the people of Kashmir, it could not be interpreted as shifting of position, Ms. Aslam said, in response to a question at the weekly press briefing.

"Secondly, the President has talked about making the Line of Control irrelevant. There are ideas, there may be a step-by-step approach but we don't have to see it as a face-saving or face-losing situation for any country. We want to make it a win-win situation, in which the Kashmiris are happy, in which Pakistan and India are happy, by which there is prosperity and peace in this region," she said.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu