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‘Pak wants peaceful resolution of all issues with India’
Kashmir Times. Dated: 3/17/2017 10:10:48 AM
ISLAMABAD, Mar 16 (Agencies): Pakistan wants to resolve all issues, including Kashmir, with India through result oriented dialogue which should not disrupt or breakdown on "flimsy grounds", the Foreign Office said today.
Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's vision clearly states Pakistan's foreign policy objective of achieving regional prosperity through peaceful neighbourhood.
"We want a peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues with India,, particularly, the Jammu and Kashmir dispute," Zakaria said at a regular briefing here.
He said that Pakistan is hosting the upcoming Indus Water Treaty Commissioners' meeting.
"We have been emphasising the need for sustainable and result-oriented dialogue vis-a-vis our relationship with India - dialogue which should not disrupt or breakdown on flimsy grounds," the official said.
Zakaria said that Pakistan has shown a number of gestures which were not reciprocated by India.
“We hope that India will soon realise that dialogue is a key to peace and stability in the region, as well as peace between our two countries, particularly in the context of the issue of Jammu and Kashmir," he said.
"It is only through peace and dialogue that we can lift millions of our people from the throes of poverty," he said.
The spokesman criticised alleged Indian belligerent posture and what he called "irrational defence build-up", saying that India remained the largest importer of defence equipment in the region and its hegemonic designs are endangering peace and security in the region and beyond.
He lambasted India for alleged human rights violations in Kashmir and said Pakistan raised the issue at the Human Rights Council in Geneva during its ongoing 34th Session.
Zakaria also said BJP's policy of using Pakistan card in their domestic politics was unfortunate and regrettable.
He said Pakistan and India should engage in meaningful discussions on further measures for confidence-building, avoidance of arms race and promotion of strategic stability in South Asia.
"Pakistan stands ready for such talks with India. Our proposal for a Strategic Restraint Regime for South Asia is still on the table," he said.
Asserting that the entire State of J&K acceded to India in 1947, Baglay said any step to alter the status will also be a violation of the agreement between the two countries to address all issues bilaterally through peaceful means, which is enshrined in Shimla Agreement of 1972 and reiterated through the Lahore Declaration in 1999.
The spokesperson also played down the visit of three Indian parliamentarians to Pakistan, saying it was to attend a meet of Asian Parliamentary Assembly and it should not be linked to any other issue.
He was asked if the government's permission to the MPs to visit Pakistan was indicative of softening of the Indian stand.
On the comments of J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti yesterday that India should scrap the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan and that India should join the economic corridor between Pakistan and China, he said India has an issue with the CPECBSE -4.45 % (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor) as parts of it pass through India which is matter of concern.
The Indian position has been conveyed to all stakeholders concerned, he added.