PARIS, July 3: Peace talks between Pakistan and India could start soon and they should not be derailed by trouble in Kashmir, President Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday.
“We are moving towards talks. There are overtures from both sides,” Gen Musharraf told a news briefing at a Paris conference on investment opportunities in Pakistan.
“It (trouble in Kashmir) must not upset the process of peace,” said the president. “If there are extremists who want to derail the peace process, they should not stand in the way of two governments who want peace.”
Responding to complaints from Afghan officials that the Taliban officials were using Pakistan as a base, he said Pakistani troops and a quick-reaction anti-terrorist force were active in the border area with Afghanistan.
“We have arrested some 500 Al Qaeda members and nine Taliban officials. There was a total void and vacuum on the Afghan side. It would be stupid from anyone’s point of view to operate from the Pakistan side,” he added.
Gen Musharraf said the perception Pakistan was being used as a base by the Taliban was not coming from the US-led forces in Afghanistan but from other countries and from officials within the Afghan government.
He hoped that Pakistan would re-enter the Commonwealth later this year after a four-year suspension from the decision-making bodies of the group.
“I am very hopeful after my discussions with (British Prime Minister) Tony Blair that maybe we can re-enter in the next meeting, sometime towards the end of this year,” he said.
“We have introduced sustainable democracy. We have been explaining this everywhere and I think they do realize what is happening in this period in Pakistan,” he added.
“Actually, democracy has never been so strong” in Pakistan, he said.
INVESTORS INVITED: The president said that Pakistan with its consistent policies, skilled manpower and growing economic strength offered a most business-friendly climate to foreign investors. He highlighted Pakistan’s contributions to the global fight against terrorism and its efforts to stamp out corruption, saying none of his cabinet members had been implicated in any wrongdoing since he took office.
Addressing the editors of economic and financial newspapers and representatives of the electronic media, he recounted the achievements the country’s economy had made during the last three years despite adverse economic conditions worldwide.
The law and order and security conditions in Pakistan were stable and offered the most conducive environment for business and investment, the president said, adding foreign investors now could have 100 per cent equity in Pakistan.
He told would-be investors that he was making an anonymous contribution of his own to upholding public order.
“I roam about the beaches of Karachi at night, incognito I mean, just to see,” he said. “There is no law and order problem in Pakistan. That is the past now,” he added, noting that its crime rates bore comparison with those of US cities such as Los Angeles.
TALKS WITH RAFFRAIN: The president held wide- ranging talks with French Prime Minister Jean Pierrie Raffrain and agreed to enhance bilateral economic cooperation.
Talking to reporters after the meeting, the two leaders agreed to expand trade between the two countries. Regional and international issues also came under discussion during the meeting.—Agencies
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