Says, Committed to Result-Oriented Dialogue with India
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tuesday said that Islamabad firmly believes that the final direction of the Jammu and Kashmir issue should be in accordance with the will of the Kashmiri people.
The Pakistani Foreign Office issued a statement saying that Kashmir solution lies in the will of Kashmiri people and that will be determined through a free and impartial plebiscite under the UN’s authority, as expressed in relevant Security Council resolutions.
The statement comes as a response to a question referring to the Indian spokesperson’s remarks regarding consultations with the Kashmiri leaders.
“Kashmiris are important stakeholders as they are the ones required to exercise their right to self-determination,” the FO spokesperson Tasneem Aslam said in a statement.
She added that Pakistan remains committed to a sustained, unconditional and result-oriented dialogue with India, to discuss all outstanding issues, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
She reiterated that said Pakistan has all along maintained that dialogue between Pakistan and India is important for peace, economic development and welfare of the people of South Asia.
A spokesperson for the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Monday said there is no place for a third party in the dialogue process with Pakistan.
There should be no scope for misunderstanding or misrepresenting Indias position on the role of the so-called Hurriyat. Let me reiterate there are only two parties and there is no place for a third party in resolution of India-Pakistan issues, he said.
The only way forward to proceed on all outstanding issues is a peaceful bilateral dialogue within the framework of Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration,” the spokesperson had said.
Ever since the Foreign Secretary-level talks were cancelled in August last year over Basits meeting with Hurriyat leaders, there has been much talk about the new red lines of the Modi government. New Delhi and Islamabad have gradually agreed on the sequencing of Pakistan envoys meeting with these Kashmiri leaders. Broadly, the arrangement appears to be that while the Pakistan High Commissioner can meet Hurriyat leaders on the National Day or any other time of the year, Indias position is that there should not be any meeting before official talks.
Official talks will therefore remain delinked from the Pakistan envoys meetings with the Hurriyat leaders. India and Pakistan have just taken tentative steps towards a possible resumption of dialogue when Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar went to Islamabad earlier this month for talks with his Pakistani counterpart. But that visit was on March 3, almost three weeks before the Pakistans National Day reception.