Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi said earlier today that, “Pakistan is ready to hold dialogue with India on all outstanding issues.”
“It is a reality that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif desires cordial relations with India,” Fatemi said while addressing a seminar on ‘Pakistan India Relations – Emerging Relatives’ in Karachi.
Fatemi recalled that it was the premier who took the initiative to hold talks with India. Further, he urged members of civil society to continue to push the leadership of both countries to hold talks.
Also speaking on the occasion, former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said that he has “not lost faith in the common sense of the people on both the sides and things will hopefully move in a positive direction.”
Kasuri pointed out how crucial it is for India to seek peace with its neighbours, especially Pakistan, if it wishes to play the role of a global leader. “If Modi wishes to be successful, he needs to sit on the table with Pakistan,” he said.
Further, he lauded the efforts of PM Nawaz for taking initiative to hold composite dialogue with India.
In August this year, efforts to normalise relations between Pakistan and India took a blow when the scheduled talks between the national security advisers (NSAs) of the two neighbours were called off just hours before Sartaj Aziz was set to fly to New Delhi.
Prior to the cancellation of the talks, at a news conference in New Delhi, India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said Aziz was welcome in the Indian capital only if Pakistan assured India by midnight that the planned NSA meeting would focus only on terrorism-related issues and that Aziz would not meet Hurriyat leaders during his stay.
However, at the eleventh hour Pakistan said the country was ready for talks with India but will not accept any preconditions.
