India, Pakistan will return to talks
Calling India and Pakistan's recent spat at the United Nations a "tit for tat," former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said both sides would inevitably return to talks.
Speaking to The Hindu in Delhi, Kasuri said the recent attempts at the UNGA by Pakistan to raise the Kashmir issue internationally, as well as the Indian government's push to highlight human rights abuses in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir were "irrelevant," and final settlement of Kashmir would mirror the current ground position.
"You can't take away from us what we have [of Kashmir], we can't take away from you what you have [of Kashmir]," Kasuri said in an interview to The Hindu, ahead of the release of his memoirs "Neither a hawk nor a dove" in India. Kasuri's statements are likely to be as controversial in Pakistan as they are in India, given that Pakistan has always refused to accept a "status quo" solution of Kashmir.
Kasuri, who has recounted what he calls the "only insider's account" of negotiations between the Indian and Pakistani governments between 2004 and 2007, says they led to a "near-breakthrough" on Kashmir.
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