- Pakistan to raise terrorism with India in future talks
- ‘You cannot live in hostility indefinitely or forever’
Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Saturday said that the dialogue between Pakistan and India was the only way to move forward for the resolution of long-standing issues, as there was always a room for diplomacy.
In an interview with an Indian TV channel WION (World is on news), he said that as serious issues were involved between the two countries, so how they could be resolved without talking to each other. To a question as if Pakistan was making effort to have any dialogue with Indian prime minister in Astana next week, Basit said Pakistan believed in dialogue.
“I am always optimistic about a good relationship. Frankly speaking, you cannot live in hostility indefinitely or forever,” he said when asked if he was seeing any meeting around between the two leadership. About Indian business tycoon Sajan Jindal’s visit to Pakistan, he said it was his purely private visit and not an official one.
About Indian spy Kalbhushan Jadhav, the high commissioner said he had been convicted of espionage and appeal was submitted to the appellate court on his behalf. He said that Pakistan’s decision for not granting consular access to Jadhav was driven from bilateral consular agreement clearly stated that issues related to security would be decided on merit.
About the ICJ hearing, he said Pakistan faced no embarrassment as it was not a final ruling but a stay order that was generally expected in such cases. In such cases, there were no setbacks, he said. He also said that Commander Jadhav had confessed all wrongdoings and Pakistan was confident that he had been involved in subversive activities.
To a question, the envoy said that terrorism had also been a huge issue for Pakistan and the conviction of Commander Jadhav clearly showed that terrorism in Pakistan had external dimension to it. “When it comes to terrorism, Pakistan too has serious concerns. Whenever we will have a dialogue with India, we would raise our concerns,” he remarked.
About Mumbai and Pathankot incidents, he said in order to move forward in such cases, it was important to cooperate with each other. About Arab-led Islamic Military Alliance, he said Iran had excellent ties with Pakistan. “We are part of that military alliance that was against terrorism, not against any particular country,” he said.
About the views expressed at the summit in Riyadh about isolating Iran, he said Pakistan was not subscribed to those views. He said that Pakistan’s relations with Saudi Arabia and Gulf states were very important and the ties with Iran were equally important, so Pakistan would not like to take sides.
He said that Pakistan’s effort would be to become a bridge between Saudi Arabia and Iran if that is possible. About allegations from Afghanistan on Kabul bombing, he said that it was not anything new. “Pakistan itself is a victim of terror. Being a victim, Pakistan could never condone terrorism in any form or manifestation,” he said.