Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday strongly favoured peaceful dialogue in resolving conflicts with other countries, including the neighbouring India, in a bid to achieve the goals of prosperity of the nations and the region.
Speaking at the sixth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana he said that Pakistan desired peaceful relations with all its neighbours including India.
“We are willing to engage with India for the sake of prosperity and development as both sides of the border cannot afford to deal with massive challenges of poverty and unemployment amid meagre resources,” he said.
Responding to Sharif’s statement India too said that it desired normal relations with all its neighbours including Pakistan and advised Islamabad to create a conducive atmosphere including by taking “credible, verifiable and irreversible actions” to stop cross border terrorism against it and enable the two countries to engage and address issues bilaterally, reported news agency PTI.
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Terming Pakistan as “global epicentre of terrorism”, Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi said during the event that neighbouring country continues to be the source of terrorist activities, including India.
In his address the Pakistan PM accused India of human rights violation in Kashmir to which Lekhi responded by saying that Pakistan has no locus standi to comment on India’s internal affairs.
“Pakistan’s remarks today constitute gross interference in India’s internal affairs, sovereignty and territorial integrity…,” she said.
“Pakistan continues to make no investment in human development but provides their resources for creating and sustaining infrastructure of terrorism,” she told the summit.
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Relations between India and Pakistan have been strained over the Kashmir issue and cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
Bilateral ties nosedived after India abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating the state into two Union Territories on August 5, 2019.
Following India’s decision, Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi and expelled the Indian envoy. Trade ties between Pakistan and India have largely been frozen since then.
(With inputs from PTI)