ARF officials agree on Pakistan's membership

ARF officials agree on Pakistan's membership

Agencies
Yogyakarta

India on Wednesday endorsed Pakistan's application to join a
regional security forum after an assurance that Pakistan would
not use it as a platform to raise bilateral issues such as
Kashmir.

Officials from the 23-member ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) agreed
to admit Pakistan and will recommend the decision to their
ministers who will meet in Jakarta in early July.

"The senior official meeting recommend the ARF members approve
Pakistan admittance as a ARF participant, taking into account the
formal and solemn assurances of Pakistan," said a concluding
statement of two-day meeting of senior officials of ARF's
existing members held in Yogyakarta.

"Pakistan has given an assurance through Indonesia that it
will not raise Indian-Pakistani bilateral issues at the ARF,"
Spokesman for the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Marty A.
Natalegawa said.

At Wednesday's meeting India demanded that the Pakistani
assurance be mentioned in the recommendation, he said.

He said the officials agreed to invite Pakistan to attend the
Jakarta meeting on July 1-2.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) last year
agreed to allow Pakistan to join the ARF. But India had in the
past blocked it on concerns that Pakistan would take issues like
Kashmir to the forum.

Nuclear-capable India and Pakistan have fought three wars
since the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947. Relations have
thawed in the past year and they have launched a dialog process
to clear up all issues.

The ARF includes the 10 ASEAN countries and partners
Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, India, Japan, South
and North Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia,
and the United States.

France, Britain, Kazakshstan, Kyrgyzstan, East Timor,
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have also applied to join the ARF,
Natalegawa said. He said these applications have not yet been
discussed.