Srinagar
Pakistan’s foreign affairs office on Tuesday issued a statement “dismissing” India’s proposal to resolve Kashmir issue bilaterally—between India and Pakistan. dawn.com reported.
Adviser to the Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that New Delhi had “scuttled all opportunities for meaningful dialogue” over the past two decades.
Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs Advisor.
The statement comes in the wake of India’s rejection of the offer extended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for multilateral resolution of Kashmir dispute.
“The Indian counter-proposal that it is ready for bilateral dialogue with Pakistan is no longer credible because in the past two decades, India has scuttled all opportunities for a meaningful dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue in accordance with the UN Security Council’s relevant resolutions on Kashmir,” Dawn quoted the statement.
Pakistan welcomed Erdogan’s offer and termed it as a move that will strengthen the dialogue process among all the “stakeholders”.
Aziz said that Pakistan welcomes the statements and endeavours aimed at addressing human rights issues in Kashmir and resolution of the Kashmir dispute.
Shortly before Erdogan’s two-day visit to India, the Turkish president had suggested that Pakistan and India need to ‘strengthen multilateral dialogue’ in an attempt to find a solution to the Kashmir issue.
Ministry of External Affairs in India Spokesperson Gopal Baglay yesterday said that Kashmir issue had a dimension of “cross border terrorism” while advocating for bilateral dialogue for resolution of dispute.
Pakistan’s foreign office rejected Baglay’s statement, saying: “India’s contention that Kashmir issue is, primarily, an issue of cross-border terrorism, is a claim that no one in the world is prepared to accept today.”
The Indian government has broken its own record of brutality in Kashmir, the statement said, adding that over 100 Kashmiri protesters have been killed in Kashmir, Aziz said.
He added that Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s declaration adopted in April “out-rightly rejected Indian attempts of equating the Kashmiris’ freedom struggle with terrorism”.
