Islamabad: Pakistan on Sunday indicated trade
cannot be delinked from other contentious issues in the
composite dialogue with India as it sought an "uninterrupted
and uninterruptible" process to make peace more sustainable.
"You cannot deal with the situation in isolation. Even if
there is a strong desire on both sides to move faster on one
track, (like the) trade track...we have seen if something
happens, if there is a snag or some incident happens,
everything comes to a standstill," Foreign Office spokesperson
Tasnim Aslam told PTI.
She was responding to a question on whether trade could be
delinked from other issues that have hit bilateral ties since
independence.
"That is why Pakistan has been for a long time now talking
about a process on all tracks (that is) uninterrupted and
uninterruptible," she said.
Both sides have to talk on the whole spectrum of issues
and all problems to make the peace process more sustainable,
she added.
"That is because various strands feed into the other. The
positivity feeds into each other. Process becomes sustainable.
Realistically, you will have to have a holistic movement."
Aslam said once there is the right atmosphere, the two
sides can look into separating a specific track from other
issues. "When you have achieved that atmosphere, then it is
possible to fast track something but when the whole process of
bilateral dialogue is stalled and you are trying to move
forward on one issue, it is always very fragile."
Pakistan missed a January 2013 deadline to give India Most
Favoured Nation-status.
More recently, trade and bus services across the Line of
Control were suspended over a week ago after a driver from the
Pakistani side was arrested in Jammu and Kashmir on charges of
trafficking narcotics. Following the arrest, 27 drivers from
the Indian side were detained by Pakistani authorities.
Asked if progress in Pakistan`s prosecution of seven
terror suspects charged with involvement in the Mumbai attacks
was a stumbling block to resuming the composite dialogue,
Aslam said neither Pakistan nor India is in a position to
dictate terms to each other. "It does not happen," she said.
Aslam raised the bomb attack on the Samjhauta Express
cross-border train in which over 40 Pakistanis were killed and
said: "What about Samjhauta? Have you forgotten about them?
Are they less important. We have not heard anything on
Samjhauta.
Aslam further said Pakistan is ready to take a "leap of
faith" for better ties with India.
"We would like to take the leap of faith but in the
process we don`t want to fall in the abyss. We need dialogue
as much as India needs it or this region needs it," she said.
Responding to a query on whether Pakistan is ready for
such a "leap of faith", Aslam said, "Yes, we are but not with
closed eyes."
Asked about the trust deficit between the two sides, she
said, "Unfortunately, there is and it would take more water to
flow under the bridge for that (trust) to happen."
Aslam said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has made positive
statements and backed it up with some steps.
"Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was in India. Our
commerce minister was there. He had very constructive
discussions. But then you also see a press conference by your
army chief which was very provocative.
"So what exactly is the message? While the message from
Pakistan is unanimous, that does not seem to be the case from
India. How do you build trust?" she said.
Pakistan and India need to improve their relations because
it is in their national interest, Aslam said. "We have to
focus on our development and we have to focus on uplift of
poor sections of society on both sides," she added.
