Narendra Modi and Shahbaaz Sharif
Highlights
- Pakistan expresses desire for peaceful relations with India
- Pakistan wants peaceful relations with India: Shahbaz Sharif
- Sharif also spoke on the decision regarding voters in Jammu and Kashmir
India-Pakistan Relations: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed his desire for peaceful relations with India based on the principles of “equality, justice and mutual respect” and resolution of the Kashmir issue. Amid tensions in bilateral ties over Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism and the Kashmir issue, Sharif also urged the international community to play a “supportive role” in ensuring lasting peace and stability in South Asia.
Pakistan wants peaceful relations with India
The Dawn newspaper quoted the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as saying that Sharif expressed these views during a meeting with Australia’s newly-appointed High Commissioner to Pakistan, Neil Hawkins, on Thursday. Sharif said, “Pakistan wants peaceful relations with India based on the principles of equality, justice and mutual respect. In this context, a just and peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people is inevitable.” necessary for lasting peace and stability.
India gave advice to Pakistan
India has repeatedly told Pakistan that it wants normal neighborly relations with Islamabad in an environment free from terror, hostility and violence. India has also said that it is the responsibility of Pakistan to create an environment free from terrorism and enmity. Sharif’s remarks came days after India decided to allow non-locals living in Jammu and Kashmir to enroll in the voting list and vote in elections in the union territory. Before the abrogation of Article 370, only permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir were entitled to vote under state law. In a related development, the Foreign Office on Friday said it categorically rejects India’s announcement to allow even temporary residents, including outside staff and security personnel, to register as ‘voters’ in Jammu and Kashmir.
Kashmir was always an integral part of India
“This is India’s well-intended strategy to influence the outcome of ‘so-called’ elections in Jammu and Kashmir and attempts to ‘pre-election rigged and openly manipulated’,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer Hridesh Kumar on Wednesday said the Union Territory is likely to have about 25 lakh additional voters, including outsiders, after the special revision of the electoral rolls for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370. Bilateral relations worsened in August 2019 after India announced the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcation of the state into two union territories. India has repeatedly told Pakistan that Jammu and Kashmir “was always, is and will always be an integral part of India”.
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