India’s negative attitude unhelpful in improving ties: Pakistan Foreign Secretary
Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janju recently spoke of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s first address to the nation after the July elections in which he had offered to take two steps for every single step that India would take for the normalisation of ties with Pakistan.
Speaking at a conference on ‘Conflict and Cooperation in South Asia: Role of Major Powers‘ hosted by the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Janjua said that India, by refusing to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in Islamabad, was holding the regional body’s summit process hostage.
Referring to India’s approach on ties with Pakistan, Janjua said India was “spinning hatred” and perpetuating “dynamic rivalry”, according to Dawn newspaper.
India’s negative attitude unhelpful in improving ties: Pakistan Foreign Secretary#IndiaPakistan #SouthAsia #SAARC https://t.co/heFt4pnIl0 pic.twitter.com/d1GKYBcqjF
— ET Defence (@ETDefence) December 13, 2018
She continued how the Indian government activities “was not only unhelpful for improving Pakistan-India ties, but was also stopping South Asia from making progress and attaining peace”.
“We are convinced that we will continue to try for peace and stability in the region,” she added.
The foreign secretary also criticised India for “spending massively on force modernisation” and questioned the support being extended to it by the world powers in its acquisition of weapons. “Recently held India-US 2+2 dialogue provides India access to advanced and sensitive US military hardware, technology and weaponry,” she said.
Reiterating Pakistan’s position on Indian arms build-up, she said: “Pakistan is concerned that such an arms race will be detrimental to peace and stability of the region. Pakistan doesn’t subscribe to any nuclear or conventional arms race in the region.” Ms Janjua said Pakistan would continue to pursue its policy of “credible minimum deterrence” to maintain strategic stability and cater for its interests.
She expressed regret over how India had tried to drown in controversy Pakistan’s gesture of agreeing to the Kartarpur Corridor, for facilitating Sikh pilgrimage to one of their holiest sites, due to its domestic politics, but Islamabad ignored the Indian negativity and decided to “stay the course”.
India, which blames Pakistan for several terror attacks in the country, has firmly told Islamabad that terror and talks cannot go together.
“Our view-point on Afghanistan on the futility of kinetic approaches and merit of pursuing Afghan-owned and Afghan-led reconciliation process is finding greater traction today than ever before,” Janju stated.
