Pakistan invited India for a dialogue on Kashmir in response to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech.
The Pakistani Foreign Secretary called the India High Commissioner in Islamabad and handed over a letter addressed to his Indian counterpart S. Jaishnakar, inviting him to visit Pakistan for talks on the disputed Jammu and Kashmir, the main area of contention between India and Pakistan.
“The letter highlights the international obligation of both the countries, India and Pakistan, to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the US Security Council resolutions,” Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said in his statement.
Pakistan termed Prime Minister Modi’s Independence Day speech as an attempt to divert world attention from growing unrest in Jammu and Kashmir.
Responding to Modi’s speech Pakistani Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that, “Modi was only trying to divert world attention from the grim tragedy that has been unfolding in the Indian Occupied Kashmir over the past five weeks. Thousands of unarmed youth are protesting every day for their right of self-determination. More than 70 innocent Kashmiris have been killed and more than 6000 injured.”
Sartaj Aziz further said that, “The events in Kashmir have nothing to do with terrorism. It is an indigenous movement for self-determination, a right promised to the Kashmiris by the UN Security Council.”
“India should recognize that the core issue of Kashmir cannot be resolved by bullets. It requires a political solution, through serious negotiations between India and Pakistan,” Sartaj Aziz said.
The Kashmir valley has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan ever since the partition of the two countries in 1947. India and Pakistan have fought three wars over the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
