[TimesofIndia] - Pakistan foreign minister S M Qureshi said that his country was open to dialogue if India released J&K leaders and allowed him to meet them
- War was not an option to deal with the issue of Kashmir: Qureshi
- Just days back, Pak PM Imran Khan in an opinion piece for NYT had threatened that the situation the Valley could lead to a war, if not a nuclear exchange
...aka
The Great Khan, who who convinced himself that playing cricket qualified him to lead a nuclear-armed nation with severe personality disorders...
had ruled out dialogue with India until it reversed the decision to revoke J&K's special status, his foreign minister SM Qureshi in an apparent turnaround on Saturday said that Pakistain was open to dialogue if India released the J&K leaders and allowed him to meet them. This was even as India again underscored its position that talks were possible only in an environment free of terror.
Qureshi was quoted as having said that Pakistain had never said no to dialogue with India. However,
a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth...
he added that "we cannot see the environment of dialogue being created by India". Some of the conditions for dialogue Qureshi was said to have specified in his interview to BBC included India lifting restrictions in the Valley, releasing the imprisoned Kashmiri leaders and allowing him to meet them.
In his NYT opinion piece, Khan was quoted as having said that dialogue was possible only when India reversed "its illegal annexation of Kashmir
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it
Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
, ends the curfew and lockdown, and withdraws its troops to the barracks''.
While Khan and other Pak leaders have threatened that the situation the Valley could lead to a war, if not a nuclear exchange, Qureshi also said Saturday war was not an option to deal with the issue of Kashmir.
Qureshi's emphasis on dialogue came even as India again underscored its position that talks were possible only if, as the government has repeatedly said, Pakistain took verifiable and irreversible action against cross-border terrorism.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar had said on Friday that India was willing to discuss outstanding issues with Pakistain bilaterally in an atmosphere free of terror and violence. Jaishankar's remarks came after his meeting with Europe
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...an Union commissioner Christos Stylianides in Brussels after the latter emphasised the need for India and Pakistain to restart dialogue.