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Decision to resume overflights to break logjam with India: Pak
Islamabad, Dec 01: Shortly after India and Pakistan agreed to restore airlinks and overflights from January 01, Islamabad today said it offered unilateral ceasefire and gave up its demand for Indian guarantees for restoration of aviation links in order to break the logjam and pave the way for resumption of stalled dialogue.
Islamabad, Dec 01: Shortly after India and Pakistan agreed to restore airlinks and overflights from January 01, Islamabad today said it offered unilateral ceasefire and gave up its demand for Indian guarantees for restoration of aviation links in order to break the logjam and pave the way for resumption of stalled dialogue.
It also denied that President Pervez Musharraf announced lifting of ban on overflights under pressure from US.
Though India has not offered any concessions so far Pakistan came out with the two significant "gestures" to break the ice between the two countries, foreign office spokesman Masood Khan told a media briefing here.
"India has not made any concessions. It is a unilateral gesture made to restart the stalled progress. We are not getting anywhere due to the deadlock,” Khan said.
"President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali demonstrated statesmanship, which was applauded by all nations. This is a significant watershed," he said in the face of pointed questions from the local media corps over Pakistan's move to warm up to India.
After these gestures from Pakistan, he said India should not have any "excuse" to continue to stall the dialogue process to resolve Kashmir and other issues adding "we should now move ahead and the president has facilitated that".
Pakistan media had strongly reacted to Musharraf's sudden announcement of lifting the ban on Indian overflights without insisting on the longstanding demand to acquire guarantees from India.
"We have received no assurances to resume talks," Khan said adding, however, that both countries came out with confidence building measures in the recent weeks, which should enable them to move forward and begin talks.
"From now on we can move forward and address more difficult issues like Kashmir," he said adding Pakistan expected a beginning to be made for talks when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Jamali meet during the forthcoming Saarc conference in January.
"When leaders meet, their talks could make headway," he said adding that "we have not received any assurances from India but there is anticipation that if there is sufficient goodwill, the process will culminate into a composite dialogue". Bureau Report
Though India has not offered any concessions so far Pakistan came out with the two significant "gestures" to break the ice between the two countries, foreign office spokesman Masood Khan told a media briefing here.
"India has not made any concessions. It is a unilateral gesture made to restart the stalled progress. We are not getting anywhere due to the deadlock,” Khan said.
"President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali demonstrated statesmanship, which was applauded by all nations. This is a significant watershed," he said in the face of pointed questions from the local media corps over Pakistan's move to warm up to India.
After these gestures from Pakistan, he said India should not have any "excuse" to continue to stall the dialogue process to resolve Kashmir and other issues adding "we should now move ahead and the president has facilitated that".
Pakistan media had strongly reacted to Musharraf's sudden announcement of lifting the ban on Indian overflights without insisting on the longstanding demand to acquire guarantees from India.
"We have received no assurances to resume talks," Khan said adding, however, that both countries came out with confidence building measures in the recent weeks, which should enable them to move forward and begin talks.
"From now on we can move forward and address more difficult issues like Kashmir," he said adding Pakistan expected a beginning to be made for talks when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Jamali meet during the forthcoming Saarc conference in January.
"When leaders meet, their talks could make headway," he said adding that "we have not received any assurances from India but there is anticipation that if there is sufficient goodwill, the process will culminate into a composite dialogue". Bureau Report