By IANS
Islamabad : Charging that the government was not taking parliament into confidence on the dialogue with India on Kashmir, Pakistan's opposition lawmakers asked Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri whether he was "really in the loop".
The opposition MPs asked that the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), "the real architect of the country's Kashmir policy", brief the committee, sources privy to a meeting of the parliamentary committee on Kashmir told the Daily Times.
Opposition Senator Ishaq Dar said that Kashmir was a "core issue" between Pakistan and India, which resulted in three wars.
"We have lost half of our country besides spending billions of dollars on Kashmir policy and the parliament should be in picture what's going on between the two countries," Dar said.
An official release issued after the meeting said Kasuri described the current phase of dialogue as "most focused" and that there had been "a progress leading to some relief to the Kashmiris and defusing tension between the two countries."
He assured that parliament would be informed.
"We will not bypass parliament but would only take it into confidence when we reach a certain stage of agreement. Even Indian government has not taken the issue to its Parliament so far despite pressure from the opposition," Kasuri said talking to reporters after the meeting.
Kasuri said that both the countries were engaged in resolving the 60 years old and complicated issues which would take some time.
But Dar of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and Makhdoom Amin Fahim of the Pakistan peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P) said after the meeting: "We are absolutely dissatisfied with the briefing given by the foreign minister. There was nothing new in it except disappointment."
Dar said that the opposition members had demanded comprehensive briefing on foreign policy, with special focus on Kashmir during the last seven years. "We want to know the changes in the Kashmir policy and government's limitations in this regard," he added.
Sherry Rehman of PPP-P complained that Kasuri gave formal replies to members' questions, expressing his inability to say something in totality.