Islamabad, April 26:Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday said that Pakistan would be happy to talk out differences and resolve outstanding issues through dialogue if India was willing to revisit the unilateral decisions it took on Aug 5, 2019, regarding the status of Jammu and Kashmir.
Citing Anadolu Agency of Turkey, Dawn reported, “If India is willing to re-visit some of the decisions that it took on August 5, 2019, Pakistan will be more than happy to engage, sit and talk and resolve all outstanding issues,” said Qureshi during his two-day visit to Turkey.
On August 5, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a bold move to scrap the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir by modifying Article 370 of the Constitution.
Same day, the Rajya Sabha also passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, that bifurcated the state into two Union Territories-Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.
He said that Pakistan had outstanding issues with India including Kashmir, Siachen, Sir Creek, water and other minor issues and the only sensible way forward was the dialogue, reported Dawn.
“We cannot afford to go to war, you know, it will be mutually suicidal. And no sensible person will advocate a policy of that nature. So, we need to sit and we need to talk,” he remarked.
He said that one recent development of recommitment to ceasefire was during the conversation between Directors General of Military Operations of both sides was a positive development, reported Dawn.
The Foreign Minister also referred to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s messages on Pakistan’s national day and a goodwill message to Prime Minister Imran Khan who also responded positively to it.
Earlier both the countries announced a ceasefire at the LoC which was followed by Indus water talks, sporting visas etc.
The Prime Ministers of both nations pushed for regional rapprochement and exchanged salutary messages.
Despite this growing humour, Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan decided not to meet and exchange greetings at a Dushanbe conference held earlier.
Moreover, recently Pakistan Cabinet decided not to import sugar and cotton from India which would affect the ties between both countries.
Any improvement in the ties will depend upon the restoration of High Commissioners in each other’s capitals, commitments from Pakistan with respect to cross-border terrorism, resuming LoC trade.
