LAHORE: Former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri joins a long list of senior state functionaries who have penned down their memories, as his book Neither A Hawk, Nor A Dove on Pakistan’s foreign policy will be launched early in September.

The book contains an insider account on developments on the Kashmir issue and details regarding backchannel negotiations on Kashmir and the peace process from 2002 to 2007.

Kasuri has updated the book to early 2015, including the advent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India and has analysed the situation regarding latest developments in India, Afghanistan and on Pakistan-US relations based on his experience of dealing with these countries as a foreign minister.

He has also given an account of his interactions with the leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party since the peace process started under former Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his three Ind­ian counterparts — Pranab Muk­her­jee, current Indian president, Yashwant Sinha and Natwar Singh. He has given details much beyond the so-called ‘four-point formula’ often referred to in the media.

The book also deals with Kasuri’s relationship with former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf and contains interesting details regarding the judicial crisis in March 2007. He has also devoted a chapter on the attitude of the Pakistan Army towards the peace process with India and on the Kashmir framework.

Besides, the book also covers Pakistan’s relations with the US, China and Afghanistan as well as with major countries of the Muslim world, particularly, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2015

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