Washington: Pakistan Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Monday warned India that Pakistan would give a befitting reply if war is imposed on it.
Dar made these comments while speaking to media in Washington yesterday where he was present to discuss a range of strategic and economic issues with US lawmakers and members of international financial institutions, the Dawn reported.
The minister said that his country wants peace with India and promotion of trade activities between the two nations pertinent for the development of the region.
Earlier Pakistan wrote to United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon on the border tension with India and sought the UN’s intervention.
In his letter, Sartaz Aziz, Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, accused India of “deliberate and unprovoked violations of the ceasefire agreement and cross-border firing” over the past weeks.
The letter alleged that “persistent shelling and firing by India” has resulted in “heavy civilian casualties on our side.”
Pakistan, he wrote, wants a “peaceful resolution of all issues between India and Pakistan, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir,” and also that “Pakistan believes the United Nations has an important role to play in promoting this objective, through your good offices, which we have always welcomed.”
“The Jammu and Kashmir dispute is one of the long outstanding issues on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council, whose resolutions promising the holding of a plebiscite, under the auspices of the United Nations, for self-determination of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, remain valid though unimplemented to date. For decades, Pakistan has been reminding the United Nations and the international community to fulfill that promise, in the interest of durable peace and security in the region,” the letter said.
Referring to Mr Sharif’s address to the UN General Assembly last month, during which he brought up the Kashmir issue, Mr Aziz wrote, “Unfortunately, India has adopted a policy that runs counter to its stated desire to engage in a serious bilateral dialogue with Pakistan.” He also accused India of cancelling Foreign Secretary level talks “unilaterally and without any plausible justification.”
A day after Mr Sharif spoke in New York, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his speech, had said, “Raising it at the UN will not resolve bilateral issues.” The Centre is yet to react to Pakistan’s letter.
The decision to write the letter was taken at a meeting of Pakistan’s National Security Committee on Friday, Press Trust of India reports. Mr Aziz has requested that it be “circulated as an official document of the Security Council”.
The International border between India and Pakistan has seen the heaviest firing in a decade this month. Eight people have died and nearly 90 people — including 13 securitymen — have been injured in Jammu and Kashmir.
On October 9, India warned Pakistan to end its “adventurism”. “Pakistan has clearly been the aggressor, they must realise our deterrence will be credible. If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, our forces will make the cost of this adventurism unaffordable,” Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had said.
The Indian Army assesses that the sharp increase in violations of the 2003 ceasefire by Pakistan and the attacks this year is part of its effort to raise the Kashmir issue in the international forum. “I feel Pakistan wants to internationalise the Kashmir issue and wants the focus to be back on Kashmir,” Lieutenant General KH Singh, Commander of the Nagrota-based 16 Corps told NDTV yesterday
Sharif Meets US Senators
Meanwhile Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today raised the Kashmir issue during his meeting with a delegation of US Senators, saying it should be resolved in accordance with the UN resolutions.
Sharif, who met Senators Tim Kaine, Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Angus King, Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, underlined that dialogue is the only way forward between India and Pakistan.
A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office here said that Sharif told the two Senators that the “UN resolutions must form the basis for any solution for Kashmir and people of Kashmir be made part of it.”
“He asked the UN to honour its own resolutions on this matter. He said the only acceptable solution of Kashmir will be the one which is endorsed by all parties including Pakistan, India and Kashmiris,” the statement said.
Sharif expressed his disappointment on the cancellation of Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan.
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