Talking Again

Are India and Pakistan ready to kiss and make up?

Pakistan has been the focus of media attention recently for its thawing ties with India, anti-terrorist cooperation with the United States in capturing Osama bin Laden, and the revelation of its leading scientist transferring nuclear technology to other countries. BEIJING REVIEW reporter DING ZHITAO interviewed Pakistani Ambassador to China Riaz Mohammad Khan to hear his views on these and other pressing issues.

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BEIJING REVIEW: The Pakistan-India talks hosted by your predecessor and now Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar were held in Islamabad on February 16-18. This is the first time the two sides have sat at the same table since the attack on the Indian Parliamentary Building in December 2001. How do you evaluate these talks?

AMBASSADOR KHAN: Following the agreement between President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Vajpayee in Islamabad in early January for resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and India to address all issues, including the Kashmir dispute, foreign secretary-level talks were held in Islamabad in the mid-February. These talks were mainly focused on procedure and succeeded in working out a timetable for future talks. According to the agreed timetable, senior official-level talks will be held from May to July to discuss various identified issues including Jammu and Kashmir, peace and security, confidence building measures, and economic and commercial cooperation. These rounds of talks will be followed by foreign minister-level talks in August.

Pakistan has always maintained that there is no alternative to resolving dispute through peaceful dialogue. We hope that the dialogue process, which has been initiated with a solemn commitment by the leaders of the two countries, will be pursued with sincerity and produce results to ensure a better future in the region.

Pakistan and India will hold more talks at different levels on various topics in the coming months. What is Pakistan’s expectation in future talks?

The start of the dialogue has already improved the political environment in our region. Pakistan expects a serious and purposeful dialogue to resolve all disputes, in particular Kashmir, which has been a source of tension between the two countries since their independence in 1947. A solution of this problem acceptable to Pakistan, India and, importantly, the people of Kashmir, will usher in a new era of peace, understanding and progress in South Asia.

So far, both Pakistan and India have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. What is your point of view in this regard? In what way do you think the two countries can contribute to the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction?

Before the 1998 nuclear tests, Pakistan had maintained that it would be prepared to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty together with India. The 1998 tests have changed the situation. Now the two countries are nuclear weapons states. In our view, both Pakistan and India can contribute to non-proliferation by exercising mutual restraint, maintaining nuclear deterrence at the minimum level and avoiding an arms race.

Recently, Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan has been the focus of media at home and abroad due to the leakage of nuclear technology. He has now been pardoned by the president of Pakistan. How do you comment on all these developments?

These have been unfortunate developments in which a few individual scientists of Pakistan were allegedly involved in transfer of nuclear technology to Iran and Libya. Individuals and companies from other countries, including those from Europe, are also involved in this proliferation activity, which is being investigated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Pakistan will extend full cooperation with the IAEA on this matter.

For its part, the Pakistani Government remains firmly committed not to transfer any sensitive technology to another country. Since 1999, after we became an overt nuclear state, we have instituted a formal and elaborate system of command and control that covers all nuclear and missile related installations. This eliminates risk of any leakage that had been possible when our program was in a covert phase.

President Musharraf recently said that Pakistan would not give up its nuclear development. Could you brief our readers on Pakistan’s current standpoint on nuclear technology and its use?

Our development in the nuclear sector is both in the civilian area and for military purposes. We operate nuclear power plants that are under IAEA safeguard. Similarly, Pakistan has nuclear technology applications in agricultural and medical fields. On the military side, the program is aimed at maintaining nuclear deterrence at a minimum level to ensure that there is no aggression committed against Pakistan. Nuclear deterrence is now an indispensable factor of our defense and security policy.

There are reports that the United States has located Osama bin Laden and may apprehend him soon. President Musharraf said in an interview that bin Laden may be hiding somewhere along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Do you have any comment on this?

There has been considerable speculation about bin Laden. There is a possibility that he may be hiding in the regions along our border with Afghanistan, which are mountainous and have difficult terrain. However, Pakistan’s armed forces are now deployed along this border to interdict any movement from Afghanistan.

Would you please give us your views on life in Beijing, especially your official engagements? How do you look at the development in China now?

For a Pakistani Ambassador, Beijing is a busy assignment. There is wide ranging interaction between our two countries resulting in constant exchanges that keeps my days and evenings quite preoccupied.

The economic development and transformation of China has been most impressive. I felt overwhelmed by the change when I came to China in 2002 following a gap of almost 25 years. In history, no society has made such great progress in such a short time. We admire the wisdom of the Chinese leaders and genius of the Chinese people for this truly spectacular accomplishment.