§ 5. Mr. Peter Pike (Burnley)What discussions he has had with representatives of the Governments of (a) Pakistan and (b) India on progress in dealing with the Kashmir situation. [137399]
§ 7. Mr. Andrew Dismore (Hendon)If he will make a statement about cross-border terrorism in India. [137401]
§ The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Jack Straw)I spoke to both the Indian and Pakistani Foreign Ministers by telephone on 29 October, and met Pakistani Foreign Minister Kasuri on 4 November in London.
I welcomed the measures proposed by India and Pakistan to improve further relations between the two countries and encouraged both sides to implement quickly the steps on which they agree and to work together to close the gap on those where there is less common ground, including the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus link. I hope that both sides can continue to work together to resolve their outstanding differences, including in respect of Kashmir.
§ Mr. PikeAt a time when we see some encouraging signs between India and Pakistan, does my right hon. Friend agree that it is important that we give every encouragement to both countries to resolve a problem that has existed for 54 years too long? It is a major problem between those two countries and for that part of the world. Does he agree that it would perhaps be helpful if the United Nations were able to monitor equally on both sides of the line of control and publish openly in the public arena its view on the incursions or alleged incursions on either side?
§ Mr. StrawMy hon. Friend, who has taken a close interest in the continuing dispute, is right to point out that it has gone on for 54 years and remains unresolved. However, there are some hopeful signs, and although there is long-standing suspicion between both sides, the fact that a number of confidence-building measures are already in place is a good augury for the future. I promise my hon. Friend and the House that we in the United Kingdom will remain actively engaged with this, and offer to help both sides in any way they wish. It is a bilateral dispute, but with obvious international implications.
As for the United Nations monitors, they are on the Pakistani side, but are subject to restrictions by the Pakistani Government, and there would also be restrictions by the Indian Government if they were allowed to operate on the other side. In the short term, I do not see a wider future for such monitoring, 160 although we are examining that carefully. In the end, it is for the parties themselves to agree on the monitoring arrangements that could be put in place. Meanwhile, what is crucial to further stability in the area is a clear reduction in cross-border terrorism.
§ Mr. DismoreI am pleased that my right hon. Friend has welcomed the 12 confidence-building measures proposed by the Indian Government, but will he do all that he can to ensure that Pakistan ceases its support for cross-border terrorism, and hands over for trial the suspects behind many of the terrorist outrages that have taken place in India, including Dawood Ibrahim, who was responsible for the 1993 bomb that killed 300 people in Mumbai, Masood Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, leader of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, who is wanted in connection with the attacks on the Indian Parliament building? Those people are being harboured in Pakistan, and if Pakistan is serious about trying to take the issue forward, they have to be handed over and properly tried.
§ Mr. StrawWe have taken our own action with respect to some of those suspects to freeze their assets. When I was Home Secretary, I proposed the proscription, which the House accepted, of a number of terrorist organisations operating from the Pakistani side of the border. My hon. Friend makes an important point, and we continue to encourage the Pakistani authorities to ensure that the obligations that they have publicly given to crack down on infiltration across the border into the Indian side of the line of control are observed in practice.
§ Rev. Martin Smyth (Belfast, South)I share the Foreign Secretary's support for the advances that have been made. However, does he accept that internal terrorism, both in India and Pakistan, is not helping the relationship between the two countries?
§ Mr. StrawOf course I accept that, and we applaud the work of Prime Minister Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Advani in dealing with terrorism within India, and all the courageous efforts by President Musharraf to deal with terrorism, not least al-Qaeda terrorism within Pakistan.
§ Mr. Crispin Blunt (Reigate)I note that in response to two recent written parliamentary questions the Foreign Secretary and his colleagues declined the opportunity to say that Pakistan is not a state sponsor of terrorism. However, despite all President Musharraf's efforts, the fact of the matter is that Pakistan Government agencies, including the Pakistan army, use artillery fire to cover the infiltration and extraction of terrorists from Kashmir. Should it not therefore be explicitly stated that Pakistan is a state sponsor of terrorism and that that behaviour must stop?
§ Mr. StrawWe have to make our own judgments about that, but I repeat what I said to my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore)—we acknowledge the undertakings that the Pakistani Government have given publicly about ending cross-border terrorism. We and the United States in 161 particular, but the whole international community as well, look to the Government of Pakistan to ensure that those undertakings are properly carried out.
§ Mrs. Ann Cryer (Keighley)Does my right hon. Friend agree that a very sad aspect of the dispute is that two of the poorest countries in the world can provide themselves with large nuclear armaments and other weapons yet cannot afford to give their poorest people pure water, housing, and basic health care and education?
§ Mr. StrawI agree with my hon. Friend that disproportionate expenditure on defence diverts much-needed resources from other matters. The United Kingdom played its part in helping both sides to pull back from what was literally the brink of nuclear war early in the summer last year. We shall continue to play that part and to urge both India and Pakistan to sign up to the non-proliferation treaty, and we look forward to a situation in which there are no nuclear weapons in that part of the world.