The Foreign Office has said that Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s remarks about improving Pakistan’s relations with India are being ‘interpreted out of context and portrayed incorrectly’.
On Thursday, the foreign minister, while speaking at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), had made a strong pitch for renewed ties with India, asking whether cutting off ties with India serves Pakistan's interests.
"Does it serve our interests, do we achieve our objectives whatever they may be, be it Kashmir, be it rising Islamophobia, the Hindutva supremacist nature of the new regimes and the governments in India? Does it serve our objective that we have practically cut off all engagements?" Bilawal had asked.
Today, the FO said that “there is no change in Pakistan’s policy on India on which there is a national consensus”.
“Pakistan has always desired cooperative relations with all its neighbours, including India. India’s unabated hostility and retrogressive steps, however, have vitiated the environment and impeded the prospects of peace and cooperation. The onus, therefore, remains on India to take the necessary steps to create an enabling environment conducive to meaningful and result-oriented dialogue," it said.
“The foreign minister clearly articulated this perspective, referring to India’s illegal and unilateral actions in the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IOJK) since 5 August, 2019, describing them as an assault on the rights of the Kashmiri people, as well as rising Islamophobia in India, that created an environment unconducive for meaningful engagement, it added.
"The foreign minister’s remarks are better understood in the overall context of his key message of conflict resolution that he emphasised in his address at the think-tank event," it concluded.
On Thursday, the foreign minister, while speaking at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), had made a strong pitch for renewed ties with India, asking whether cutting off ties with India serves Pakistan's interests.
"Does it serve our interests, do we achieve our objectives whatever they may be, be it Kashmir, be it rising Islamophobia, the Hindutva supremacist nature of the new regimes and the governments in India? Does it serve our objective that we have practically cut off all engagements?" Bilawal had asked.
Today, the FO said that “there is no change in Pakistan’s policy on India on which there is a national consensus”.
“Pakistan has always desired cooperative relations with all its neighbours, including India. India’s unabated hostility and retrogressive steps, however, have vitiated the environment and impeded the prospects of peace and cooperation. The onus, therefore, remains on India to take the necessary steps to create an enabling environment conducive to meaningful and result-oriented dialogue," it said.
“The foreign minister clearly articulated this perspective, referring to India’s illegal and unilateral actions in the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IOJK) since 5 August, 2019, describing them as an assault on the rights of the Kashmiri people, as well as rising Islamophobia in India, that created an environment unconducive for meaningful engagement, it added.
"The foreign minister’s remarks are better understood in the overall context of his key message of conflict resolution that he emphasised in his address at the think-tank event," it concluded.