Improve ties, but don't forget Kashmir: Pak PM

FRANK TALK: Pakistan PM Yousuf Raza Gillani speaking to Karan Thapar in his first ever interview to CNN-IBN.

        

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Keywords: Yousuf Raza Gillani, Prime Minister

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani has said that Pakistan want to have good relations with India and it want to have even better trade relations with India but at the same time India and Pakistan should think about the point of view of the people of Kashmir. Gillani was speaking to Karan Thapar in his first ever interview to CNN-IBN on Devil’s Advocate.

Karan Thapar: Prime Minister, over the last four years, under Pervez Musharraf and Manmohan Singh, the two countries believe they have, perhaps, the best four years. How can you, as a new civilian prime minister, ensure that that momentum is continued and, in fact, relations improve?

Yousuf Raza Gillani: I differ with you. I think the Indo-Pak relations were much better during the tenure of Benazir Bhutto and even Mr Nawaz Sharif. We were coming very close to each other. Benazir Bhutto, when Rajiv Gandhi came to Pakistan and I was a federal minister, we had a meeting with them and we signed a few agreements and when Nawaz Sharif was prime minister, Vajpayee came to Pakistan. He went to the place of Resolution, and they sorted out lot of issues.

Karan Thapar: So you want to build on what Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif have laid down as foundations?

Yousuf Raza Gillani: Certainly, we want to.

Karan Thapar: But you’re determined to take it further and make the relations better?

Yousuf Raza Gillani: Yes. There are a few core issues, which we want to resolve. At the same time, we want to maintain excellent and extremely friendly relations with our neighbours.

Karan Thapar: Let’s then start by talking about Kashmir. What will your government’s approach to the Kashmir issue be?

Yousuf Raza Gillani: With the aspirations of the people of Kashmir.

Karan Thapar: The reason I ask is that in April, your Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told Dawn, ‘we have been approaching this problem from a particular angle, let’s try a different approach’; what is that different approach?

Yousuf Raza Gillani: I think that is maybe out of context. What our point of view – it’s very, very clear – is according to the Resolutions of the UN and the aspirations of the people of Kashmir.

Karan Thapar: So you are going back to the United Nations Resolutions. Even though General Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seemed to indicate that they were prepared to move beyond them, you are going back to them?

Yousuf Raza Gillani: We want to go beyond that but at the same time we have to resolve the core issue, as well.

Karan Thapar: Let me try and explore your thinking a bit more. Do you agree with the parameters that Musharraf and Manmohan Singh laid down to try and sort out the Kashmir issue, parameters which were: There should be no alteration of boundaries, the LoC cannot be a boundary, and boundaries must be made irrelevant.

Yousuf Raza Gillani: These were half-baked things. They didn’t have the mandate of the Parliament and now the new government has taken over. We have a Government, which unanimously elected the Prime Minister we have the support of all the political forces in the country. Therefore, I think that needs to be debated, that should be re-thought, and maybe the Parliament thinks the same.

Karan Thapar: So you’re saying that these are half-baked parameters?

Yousuf Raza Gillani: Yes.