Pakistan ready for 'conditional' bilateral talks with India: Qureshi
He added that Pakistan has never refuted dialogue, but India has not been showing any sign of it.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has offered initiation of ‘conditional’ dialogue with New Delhi during an interview with a foreign news agency.
He maintained that Pakistan has no objection to holding bilateral talks with India; however any mediator facilitating the process of dialogue would be welcomed.
The minister added that Pakistan has never refuted dialogue, but India has not been showing any sign of it.
For holding bilateral talks, he put conditions, including revoking of curfew, restoration of basic human rights, release of all those arbitrarily detained (Hurriyat leadership) and his meeting with the Kashmiris’ leadership.
Addressing separately at a rally at Umer Kot, Qureshi said Muslims in Kashmir were denied religious freedom on the occasion of Eid. The minister said Modi can’t stand in Srinagar but he is standing in front of Hindus in Pakistan.
He said the elected representatives in India were not allowed to enter Occupied Kashmir. He said today’s India is negating philosophy of its founding fathers Gandhi and Nehru and RSS philosophy is dominating.
He said the Kashmir dispute would be discussed at European Parliament on September 2 and UNSC is discussing the matter after 54 years.
Earlier today, while talking to a private news channel, Qureshi said that announcement of US House Committee on Foreign Affairs to discuss prevailing situation in Occupied Kashmir was ‘a major development.’
He said the meeting of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs would prove to be quite useful regarding Kashmir dispute.
The minister said that overseas Pakistanis particularly the Pak-American community played a key role to internationalise the issue.
Qureshi said we were highlighting the Kashmir issue across the globe and it was the reason that issue is being discussed at every forum.
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan would forcefully raise the Kashmir issue during his speech at the UN General Assembly session.
