US must ask India to see ground realities in Kashmir: Pak minister

Pakistan Information Minister Mushahid Hussain has urged the Clinton administration to make India appreciate the ground realities in Kashmir. This would ensure a meaningful dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi on the issue, he said.

Replying to questions after his speech at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Monday, he justified the US role in the overall interest of peace in South Asia.

Hussain was in India in connection with Mother Teresa's funeral last week and had two rounds of discussions with Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral.

He said Gujral and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief will meet in New York on September 23. This is the second meeting between the two leaders -- the first was held in Male in May.

He said both sides had agreed that the two countries's foreign secretaries's joint statement in June should be respected. The statement envisaged evolving a mechanism to address the Kashmir issue, he added.

He said the two foreign secretaries, who began another meeting on Monday, would be able to clear the situation further.

UNI

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