Jaipur: Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Saturday said that ignoring Jammu and Kashmir issue will hamper the bilateral relationship with India.
"Neither war nor disengagement is an option, our globalised world calls for active cooperation to address common challenges including terrorism. Dialogue was not a favour by one country to another but a necessity to normalise relations," he said.
Basit statement comes at a time when uncertainty continues to loom over the Foreign Secretary (FS)-level talks between India and Pakistan after the Pathankot terror attack on January 2.
Both the countries have been unable to come to an agreement over the much awaited FS-level meeting and have been engaging in a blame game over terror issues.
While speaking as a keynote speaker at a fest in Jaipur, Basit said that, "Jammu and Kashmir was the root cause of all our bilateral problems, as mutually agreed we must work together to settle this issue."
On the context of Pathankot terror attack, he said, "We are not yet in a cul-de-sac and spirit of cooperation must be retained. We want to get to the bottom of the Pathankot incident. It is necessary for us to avoid jumping the gun."
Stressing that road to peace is always strewn with many impediments and requires courage to take difficult decisions, he said, "Peace is in mutual interest of Pakistan and India and peace can only be achieved through uninterrupted dialogue."
"Pakistan under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wants normalisation of relations on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interest," he said.
Comments
0 comment