Pakistan no longer enjoys the support of international community on the Kashmir issue and must give up its “ideological obsession” with it, a former top Pakistani diplomat has said here. Calling for a “decisive shift” in Pakistan’s Kashmir approach, Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s envoy to the US between 2008 and 2011, said issues around 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Zaki-ur-Rehman lakhvi and Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed could prove stumbling blocks to lasting peace.
A vocal critic of Pakistan military’s control over the civilian Government, Haqqani described the Indo-Pak relationship in terms of a “bad marriage” and insisted it was time for a decisive shift in the country’s approach to the Kashmir dispute.
“Pakistan needs to have the kind of approach China has over Taiwan. It doesn’t need to give up its claim but it needs to move on other issues first,” Haqqani said, adding, Pakistan no longer has the support of the international community on the Kashmir issue.“We need to take a more pragmatic approach rather than making it an ideological obsession,” he said.
Speaking at the Royal Institute of International Affairs here at Chatham House on Monday, a day before Indian foreign secretary S Jaishankar met with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Chaudhry in Islamabad, Haqqani noted: “It’s a good thing that India and Pakistan are resuming talks. But unfortunately the fundamentals of the relationship are yet to be addressed.