While speaking to the Anadolu Agency on Sunday, Pakistani Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Pakistan was ready to engage in diplomatic conversations with India and discuss the various differences between the two countries, provided India was “willing to revisit” its decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. The minister made the remarks during his two-day visit to Turkey.
Qureshi recognised that the two sides had several unresolved issues, including the contentious border in Kashmir, Siachen, and Sir Creek. In this regard, he said that both countries could not “afford to go to war”, as it would be “mutually suicidal”. Hence, the only feasibly solution, he said, was dialogue.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have been soaring since August 5, 2019, following the Modi-led government’s decision to rescind Article 370 of the Constitution and abrogate the special status enjoyed by Jammu and Kashmir. On the same day, the Indian Parliament also passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, which split the state into two union territories, Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, effectively giving the central government in New Delhi larger powers over the region’s administration.
Since then, both India and Pakistan have been pawning off the onus of improving their bilateral relationship onto the other. In February, speaking about India’s longstanding conflict with Pakistan at a weekly press briefing, Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said that any resolution of the issue would require Pakistan to abandon its support for terrorism. This came in response to Pakistani Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s statement calling for a peaceful resolution to the Jammu and Kashmir conflict.
Last month, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan also called upon India to take the first step towards an Indo-Pakistan friendship. While addressing the Islamabad Security Dialogue, Khan said that the Kashmir conflict stands as the only “unresolved issue” that obstructs a friendly relationship with India. To this end, he urged India to grant Kashmiris their rights under the relevant United Nations (UN) resolutions, which call for a referendum in the region. He added that he had made several attempts to settle the issues with India. However, following the abrogation of the special status that was enjoyed by Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, he said that “there was a total breakdown between the two countries.” Khan’s came just a few weeks after the two sides agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) on February 24.
In March, Khan also responded to a letter by his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, thanking him for his wishes on Pakistan Day. PM Modi had written to Khan on March 23 to mark the occasion of Pakistan Day, and expressed his hope for cordial and peaceful relations between the two nuclear-armed rivals in “an environment of trust devoid of terror and hostility.”
Qureshi’s recent comments also come at a time when several media reports have been suggesting that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is acting as a mediator between the two countries and is attempting to broker a peace deal to end their decades-long conflict. The Emirati envoy to the United States (US), Yousef Al Otaiba, said that the Arab power was using its friendly relations with the two sides to bring the “Kashmir escalation down”. While the aim was not to create a friendship between the two rivals, he said that they sought to achieve a situation where the relationship was “functional” and “operational”. However, Qureshi has previously denied the existence of any such “peace talks.” Nevertheless, the ongoing back-and-forth between India and Pakistan indicates that both parties seek to achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
Pakistan FM Qureshi Says Ready for Dialogue if India Reconsiders Abrogation of Article 370
Pakistani FM Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Pakistan is willing to engage in diplomatic talks with India provided that it was “willing to revisit” its decision to abrogate Article 370.
April 27, 2021
SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES