Islamabad, June 19: Pakistan said that a dialogue with India could begin any time if the two countries demonstrated political will and regretted the strong reactions from the Indian leadership to the "slanted reporting" of the remarks made by President Pervez Musharraf in an interview. "The basis of a roadmap for peace already exists and Pakistan and India do not have to reinvent the wheel. If there is political will, they can start the process of dialogue where they left off at Agra," foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri told Pakistan newspaper. Referring to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's remarks that proper homework was imperative for dialogue, Kasuri said Pakistan does not believe in rushing into a political summit without doing proper homework either, "but this should not take months if there was political will." On the controversy over Musharraf's statement, Kasuri said "it was quoted out of context." "In fact, the president had said that after Kargil, both realised that war was not a viable option. "He said it was ironic that Pakistan and India talk to each other when the situation is relatively normal but stop talking when it gets bad."
Meanwhile, an official of the Pakistan foreign ministry said it regretted the recent statements by the Indian leadership and Indian external affairs ministry o ver the "slanted reporting of the remarks made by the president of Pakistan in an interview to a news agency."
Bureau Report