NEW DELHI President Pranab Mukherjee has said that all outstanding issues, between Pakistan and India including Jammu Kashmir could be resolved only through dialogue, talks and negotiations.
In an interview with a Norwegian newspaper, which was reported by The Hindu newspaper on Monday, he said that the proper person to address [this question] would be the Foreign Affairs minister of India. What I can say is the stated policy. We believe we can select our friends but cannot select our neighbours, he said.
My neighbour is going to stay. In my capacity as the foreign minister serving India twice, I used to articulate that I cannot live in perpetual tension with my neighbour, he stated. “Two major agreements have been signed to resolve the question of Jammu Kashmir. One is the Shimla Agreement in 1972 and another is the Lahore Declaration when (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee was prime minister (of India), he said.
These are the two institutional treaties which can provide the mechanism through which outstanding issues could be resolved. We believe only through dialogue, talks, and negotiations can not only this issue, but all outstanding issues be resolved, he stressed.
Referring to the request of Malala Yousafzai, joint winner of Nobel Peace Prize 2014 with Indian child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, he said he would leave it to the leaders of Pakistan and India to decide whether they should attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Norway.
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