Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir met Chief Of Army Staff Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani to consult them on the resumption of the peace process between Pakistan and India. Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi will hold a formal meeting with his Indian counterpart later in the day.Earlier FM meet a group of former foreign ministers, foreign secretaries and ambassadors to consult them on the resumption of the peace process between Pakistan and India. Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to revive talks at their Thimphu meeting. The meeting was attended by Abdul Sattar, Inam ul Haq, Akram Zaki, Dr. Humayun Khan and other former prominent bureaucrats. Briefing the group on the Thimphu meeting (29 April 2010) on the margins of the 16th SAARC Summit, the Foreign Minister said that while the two countries had agreed to come back to the negotiating table to discuss all the issues, in order for the peace process to achieve concrete results, it was important that the dialogue between the two countries continued uninterruptedly. He said the Thimphu meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere. The two leaders had agreed to take cognizant of each others concerns and resume the peace process in the spirit of resolving all the issues on the basis of sovereign equality and mutual respect.It was also agreed to take necessary measures towards promoting mutual confidence and mutual trust.The Foreign Minister underlined that terrorism was a regional issue and had to be dealt with through cooperation. He said he was looking forward to having a telephone conversation with his Indian counterpart tomorrow. Pakistan wanted that the momentum generated at Thimphu be sustained. He expressed the hope that a meeting between the two Foreign Ministers would take place sooner rather than later so that the peace process could be resumed without further delay.There was also an in-depth discussion on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. The Foreign Minister said that the democratic Government of Pakistan had taken a principled position on this core issue.He strongly believed that no viable solution of the dispute could be found and implemented unless it was in accordance with the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. He said it was encouraging that the Kashmiri leadership across the board had welcomed the resumption of dialogue.The Foreign Minister welcomed suggestions made by the participants and appreciated their candid and valuable observations.
