Imran Khan’s NSA Says India desires talks but Kashmiris should be third-party
New Delhi: Moeed Yusuf, National Security Advisor to Pakistan’s Prime Minister, has claimed that India has sent a message expressing a desire for talks, and insisted that Kashmiris must be a third party at these talks.
“Mr. Yusuf said that there are two issues, Kashmir and terror, and added ‘I want to talk about both,’” reported The Wire. He said Pakistan “stands for peace and we want to move forward”.
In the interview, Mr. Yusuf repeatedly seemed to suggest that Kashmiris would have to be a third party in the talks and, second, that another two pre-conditions were that India must reverse what he called the “military siege” in Kashmir and roll back the new domicile law.
Among the conditions set by Yusuf for a dialogue with India is release of political prisoners in Jammu and Kashmir, making Kashmiris a party to talks, ending restrictions in the region, rescinding the domicile law that allows non-Kashmiris to settle in the region, and stopping alleged human rights abuses.
He also said the changes in Jammu and Kashmir are “not an internal matter”, and are “a matter for the UN”.
Yusuf made the remarks in an interview with journalist Karan Thapar for the news portal The Wire, the first by a Pakistani official since India scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in August 2019 and split it into two union territories.
Yusuf said the two sides “must sit down like adults” for talks and contended the two key issues are Kashmir and terror. “I want to talk about both,” he said, adding that Pakistan “stands for peace and we want to move forward”.
There was no immediate response from Indian officials to Yusuf’s comments.
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It is extremely rare for Pakistani officials to talk on foreign policy issues such as relations with India without getting the go-ahead from the military establishment, which plays a key role in guiding ties with the US and India. Yusuf is considered to be close to the security establishment.
Last month, Yusuf had created a flutter after he joined a virtual meeting of national security advisers of member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) with a map that inaccurately depicted the borders of India and Pakistan. India’s NSA Ajit Doval walked out of the meeting in protest and the matter did now go down well with Russia, which hosted the meeting.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES
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