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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  India, Pakistan need to break the ice through talks: Abdul Basit
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India, Pakistan need to break the ice through talks: Abdul Basit

In an interview to an Indian newspaper, Pakistan's envoy to India Abdul Basit argued in favour of a sustained dialogue and result-oriented engagement

A file photo of Pakistan’s envoy to India Abdul Basit. Photo: MintPremium
A file photo of Pakistan’s envoy to India Abdul Basit. Photo: Mint

New Delhi: In a seeming attempt to lower tensions between India and Pakistan following New Delhi’s announcement of surgical strikes in Pakistan-administered Kashmir (PoK) last week, Pakistan’s envoy to India Abdul Basit has said that the two countries need to talk to each other to break the ice.

In an interview to The Indian Express, Basit argued in favour of a sustained dialogue and result-oriented engagement, which he said is in the mutual interest of both countries. He also stressed on the need “to bring diplomacy to centrestage".

The Indian Express report comes on a day US state department spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said that Washington was engaged in discussions with India and Pakistan to de-escalate tensions.

According to Basit, the need of the hour is to have “serious and sustained diplomacy. And result-oriented engagement. And I can tell you that in Pakistan, we do not see dialogue as a favour by one country to another country, dialogue is in our mutual interest."

“If India is ready, Pakistan will be willing, if India is not ready then we can always wait for India to make up its mind. At the end of the day, I would say both our countries need to work for peace and prosperity, as the Indian PM very rightly said in his address in Kerala, we need to fight against poverty. If we were to fight against poverty, I think we need to work together," he said.

Also Read: Pakistan troops violate ceasefire 4 times, 5 civilians hurt

His reference was to a speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kerala last month where Modi urged India and Pakistan to declare war against poverty rather than fight each other.

India-Pakistan ties have been in a free fall since Islamabad described Burhan Wani, a terrorist belonging to the Hizbul Mujahideen group who was shot dead by Indian security forces, as a “martyr" and a “Kashmiri leader". Pakistan has been vociferously highlighting what it calls are human rights violations in Kashmir, riling India.

Ties took a turn for the worse following the 18 September terrorist attack on the Indian army garrison in Uri in north Kashmir. Nineteen Indian army soldiers were killed in the attack. On 29 September, the Indian army said it had launched surgical strikes on 6-8 terrorist launchpads in PoK, something the Pakistan army denied.

In his interview, Basit said the attack in Uri and another in Baramulla over the weekend only underlined the need to resolve the Kashmir dispute between the two countries. India and Pakistan claim disputed Kashmir in its entirety but administer it in parts.

Also Read: Pakistan, India NSAs agree to reduce tension along LoC: Sartaj Aziz

“What bothers us is whenever attacks occur in India, immediately fingers are pointed at Pakistan. We saw that post-Uri, followed during the attack and we are seeing in Baramulla, so my sincere advice to Indian friends and people that this is very very unhelpful. You know the problems in J&K, you know what is happening since July 8."

Wani was killed on 8 July and Indian-administered Kashmir has seen unrest since then. New Delhi says the protests in Indian Kashmir are fuelled by Pakistan, a charge Pakistan denies.

On apprehensions of a further slide in relations, Basit said, “There are huge stakes involved for both Pakistan and India, and there is no reason for us to be thinking along these terms. We should be positive… we need to have serious and sustained diplomacy. If that is allowed to happen then perhaps things may improve, but the problem is still there, the J&K problem is still there, as I said, that needs to be resolved."

Standing by his country’s position that “no surgical strike" took place and there was only “cross-LoC firing", he said the Baramulla attack could not be called a retaliation since there was “no strike" in the first place.

“Both our countries understand war is not really a solution to our problems and there is simply no room for conflict in a nuclear environment," he said.

On the postponement of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) summit in Islamabad and the prospect of regional isolation following near simultaneous pull-outs by India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bhutan on 27 September, Basit said, “Pakistan is too big a country to be isolated, so we are not worried about that, and I am sure good sense will prevail and (we) will host the 19th Saarc summit, at an appropriate time, so we are also positive… Pakistan will be able to host it… if not this year, hopefully next year."

Islamabad was to host the 19 Saarc summit on 9-10 November but on 30 September announced the postponement of the summit after four countries pulled out.

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Published: 04 Oct 2016, 10:51 AM IST
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