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NEW DELHI – Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has cleared Pakistan’s position on the status of disputed state of Jammu Kashmir, saying they would continue to meet Kashmiri leaders before and after any talks with India.
In a telephonic interview with the Hindustan Times newspaper, he reiterated that it was up to India to resume the dialogue because it was India who called off the secretary-level talks with Pakistan. He also referred leaders of the Hurriyat Conference as important stakeholders. He said that Pakistan would continue to hold meetings with the Huriyyat leaders including Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Ali Shah Geelani, Shabbir Shah, Yaseen Malik and others who are struggling with the public support for the right to self-determination.
“We will always meet them each time we are holding talks on the issue of Kashmir,” the adviser said, adding that any solution to the status of Jammu Kashmir has to be acceptable to the people of the disputed state. He also said that the Indian media had reported his statement partially about his earlier statement that the meeting between High Commissioner Abdul Basit and the Hurriyat leaders was ‘ill-timed.’
“I used the word probably because the two foreign secretaries were meeting to see how to take the dialogue forward. They were not slated to have any substantive talks on the issue of Kashmir,” Sartaj said. Asked if there was pressure from the US on resuming the talks with India, he said that many in the US would like to see the dialogue being resumed.
“(But) our position is clear – we did not call off the talks, India did,” he said. The meeting between Pak-India foreign secretaries, to be held on August 25, was called off after Abdul Basit did not budge to calls from the Indian foreign secretary to cancel his meetings with the Kashmiri leaders in New Delhi.
We will continue to meet Kashmiri leaders before, after talks with India: adviser
In a telephonic interview with the Hindustan Times newspaper, he reiterated that it was up to India to resume the dialogue because it was India who called off the secretary-level talks with Pakistan. He also referred leaders of the Hurriyat Conference as important stakeholders. He said that Pakistan would continue to hold meetings with the Huriyyat leaders including Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, Ali Shah Geelani, Shabbir Shah, Yaseen Malik and others who are struggling with the public support for the right to self-determination.
“We will always meet them each time we are holding talks on the issue of Kashmir,” the adviser said, adding that any solution to the status of Jammu Kashmir has to be acceptable to the people of the disputed state. He also said that the Indian media had reported his statement partially about his earlier statement that the meeting between High Commissioner Abdul Basit and the Hurriyat leaders was ‘ill-timed.’
“I used the word probably because the two foreign secretaries were meeting to see how to take the dialogue forward. They were not slated to have any substantive talks on the issue of Kashmir,” Sartaj said. Asked if there was pressure from the US on resuming the talks with India, he said that many in the US would like to see the dialogue being resumed.
“(But) our position is clear – we did not call off the talks, India did,” he said. The meeting between Pak-India foreign secretaries, to be held on August 25, was called off after Abdul Basit did not budge to calls from the Indian foreign secretary to cancel his meetings with the Kashmiri leaders in New Delhi.
We will continue to meet Kashmiri leaders before, after talks with India: adviser
