New Delhi: Emphasising the need for revival of dialogue, Pakistan has told India that while terrorism remains a serious challenge to deal with there are other issues of equal importance that the two countries should address to bring improvement to their ties.
Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said that apart from terrorism other issues like Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek had also impacted the ties. These are the core issues required to be dealt with simultaneously, he added.
The candid talk from the ambassador came in response to queries from the host of India Today’s TV programme ‘India Conclave 2017’ telecast on Saturday.
Terror issue alone cannot define entire gamut of bilateral ties, says Pakistan envoy
Basit maintained that the issue of terrorism could not alone define the entire gamut of ties between Pakistan and India. “By creating hype around it [terrorism], you cannot wish away other issues like Jammu and Kashmir.”
He urged the Indian government to create conducive environment by restoring the spirit of cooperation, thus paving the way for the settlement of core issues.
“What I underline is that we need an overall conducive environment. When we are not talking to each other, when we are avoiding each other and when there is no environment of cooperation, then how you can expect to move forward,” he asked.
Basit said the two countries needed to decide the fundamental issues like Jammu and Kashmir first before moving to other issues like terrorism. “We need to be sitting across the table to discuss the difficult issues. We cannot expect progress in vacuum.”
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