Lahore, Aug. 2 : Applauding the Indo-Pak joint statement at Sharm-el-Sheikh, noted Pakistani journalist, Najam Sethi, has said that both countries had agreed to push the issues of Kashmir and cross-border terrorism to the back burner to rekindle the bilateral peace process.

In an interview with a private television channel, Sethi, Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Times, said it was very important to shift the long pending issues to the back channels in order to achieve progress in the bilateral dialogue.

Sethi said that while Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is being criticized for diluting India’s stand in the joint statement, his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani is also at the receiving end of flak by a section people who believe it was a blunder on part of Gilani not to include Kashmir in the document.

“The rising number of voices in India criticising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for de-linking Indo-Pak peace talks from terrorism were matched only by a large section of the Pakistani population criticising Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for not mentioning the Kashmir issue in the joint statement issued in Sharm-el-Sheikh,” The Daily Times quoted Sethi, as saying.

He also rejected reports of differences between Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari, saying there were a few circles in the country that wanted to see a stronger prime minister and a weaker president in the nation’s democratic set up.

However, Sethi said that Zardari does not have a team capable of pulling the country out of the present turbulent situation. (ANI)