CAMBRIDGE, Feb 26: Saying that US President George Bush’s visit to South Asia was taking place at a time when the United States enjoyed equal influence in Pakistan and India, Senator Mushahid Hussain has stressed that an opportunity exists for promoting peace on the subcontinent and that it should not be missed.

Delivering a keynote speech at a seminar at Harvard University’s Asia Centre on ‘Critical engagement: Pakistan-US relations,’ Senator Hussain cited President Bush’s speech at the Asia Society in Washington on Tuesday when the US leader called for a settlement of the Kashmir dispute acceptable to Pakistan, India and the people of Kashmir.

He referred to President Pervez Musharraf’s ‘out-of-box’ solutions for the Kashmir problem, but regretted the lack of response from India. “There is no movement whatsoever and the discussions on Kashmir have, in fact, become a dialogue of the deaf,” he said, adding: “The problems will not go away until it is solved.”

Senator Hussain, who is also Chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, underscored that “another positive factor in the region” vis-a-vis resolution of Kashmir dispute was the fact that war was no longer an option for Pakistan and India.

“The nuclear factor has given Pakistan the much-needed confidence to pursue rapprochement and normalisation. If peace has to be irreversible, the issues between the two countries should be resolved, otherwise we will be back to square one,” he stressed.

Opening the panel discussion, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram said Islamabad and Washington had very close coordination in the war on terror. Information provided by Pakistan had led to arrest of 700 Al Qaeda members. Pakistan’s armed forces had entered the tribal area where even the British had not dared to go. But, he said, the Pakistani operations were directed against foreign terrorists.

Speaking about the differences between US and Pakistan’s approach in tackling the issue of terrorism, he said for the United States the priority was to get Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden instead of addressing the root causes of terrorism. He condemned American missile strikes in Bajaur, saying Pakistan could not allow its sovereignty to be violated.

There was also difference between the countries over how to deal with the Taliban, he said. While Pakistan wanted to go after active Taliban, the US wanted to destroy all of them, he said.

Mr Akram said the war on terrorism had been turned into a war against Islamic radicalism and the only solution being presented to deal with the scourge was freedom and democracy. But Muslim anger stemmed from the repression of people of Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq and Chechnya — issues which cried out for a settlement.

Mr Akram said the Bush administration was playing a positive role in encouraging Pakistan and India to resolve their differences over Kashmir and nuclear and conventional forces.

But he regretted that Indian repression in occupied Kashmir was being ignored, while Kashmiri militancy was being described as terrorism.

Mr Akram said the fact was that the Jihad in Kashmir was the result of Indian repressions, which continued. “No solution proposed by Pakistan to resolve the dispute has elicited any response from the other side.”

On the question about lingering doubts about Pakistan’s nuclear activities and Dr A.Q. Khan, Ambassador Akram noted that the focus was not on what Islamabad had done, but what was undone.

He said Dr Khan was a national hero: Pakistan wanted a weapon after India took the nuclear route in 1974 and he gave his country the capability to produce atomic arms. Enough action had been taken against him. Pakistan would not allow him to be interviewed by anyone. No foreign government would be given direct access to Dr Khan, who knew all of Pakistan’s nuclear secrets. But Pakistan was prepared to take questions to him and the information thus obtained would be shared with the international community, he said.