Following Indian media reports claiming that Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg had offered to mediate between Islamabad and New Delhi, Oslo’s Ambassador Nils Ragnar Kamsvag has denied the claims and said that “Norway had neither been asked nor had it offered to mediate”.
According to India Today, Norway’s ambassador to New Delhi said, “Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg has not offered to mediate between India and Pakistan as has been erroneously reported. Norway has neither been asked nor offered to mediate.”
The Norwegian premier who is on a three-day visit to India was interviewed by NDTV, where she was questioned whether there was “scope for mediation” between the two countries by Oslo given its “traditional peacekeeping role”.
PM Erna said, “If there is an interest from the partners, we will try to use the mechanisms that we know. We have been working quite a lot in different countries but we always have this one basic thinking: The partners need to want to sit down by the table and discuss.”
“Then, of course, if there is a need for a mediator, a need for a facilitator to fix ─ even though these are two very big countries that should manage to sort out things between themselves,” she further added.
When asked whether Pakistan and India should “talk more” in order to sort the ongoing issues, the Norwegian PM believes that “all countries in the world should be talking more”.
She further stated that “both Pakistan and India should decrease their military expenditure because we need more money for other areas to boost development ─ on health, education”.
“But I think that means that you have to try to decrease tensions between countries. And after such a long time ─ it’s been a long time since 1947 ─ now should probably be time to find good approaches between the two countries. But it’s up to you, the countries. It’s not a Norwegian mission,” she added.
Solberg was also asked about Norway’s former premier Kjell Magne Bondevik’s visit to India-held Kashmir last year, during which he met Hurriyat leaders Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, sparking controversy in India.
“I think he was invited and he wanted to see if there was some possibility to helping out. But there is no official mission,” she said.
Commenting on a solution to the Kashmir conflict, Solberg was quoted as saying, “ I don’t think there is a military solution to any situation like this. I think you have to have popular support. You have to have good trust between the partners in any region where still there is a conflict. […] What we have learnt is that you have to bring in popular support and by getting women and youth into a peace process and that’s when you build a solid peace in an area where there has been a conflict.”
“The only thing we know is to make sure that all partners are talking to each other,” she added.