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Pakistan says ready for dialogue with India on all issues 'but...'
India’s stand on talks with Pakistan has been that it will only have a dialogue on the return of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the issue of terrorism.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said that his country “will not beg for talks” with India and claimed that Islamabad was ready to respond to "aggression with full force”
Dar emphasised that Pakistan was ready for a composite dialogue with India in a dignified and respectful manner on all outstanding issues, including Kashmir.
“Pakistan is ready for a composite dialogue with India in a dignified and respectful manner on all outstanding issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute as per its longstanding position on the matter,” he said during an interaction with the media.
India’s stand on talks with Pakistan has been that it will only have a dialogue on the return of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the issue of terrorism.
The composite dialogue, which was launched in 2003 during General Pervez Musharraf’s reign, was derailed after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people. The dialogue had eight baskets of components, containing all contentious issues between the two countries.
Pakistan says will respond to aggression with “full force”
Ishaq Dar, who is also the deputy Prime Minister of Pakistan, threatened to retaliate “with full force” to India “in case any aggression is committed”.
India carried out precision strikes under ‘Operation Sindoor’ on terror infrastructure early on May 7 in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people. The strikes happened on nine locations in PoJK and Pakistan’s Punjab province and killed over hundred terrorists, security forces said.
Talking about the conflict, Dar claimed that Pakistan’s narrative was accepted and acknowledged at the global level through proactive diplomacy.
Dar said that Pakistani forces proved their prowess in the air and on land in the conflict with India and warned of responding fully to “any provocation”.
“Pakistan is also ready to respond with full force to India in case any aggression is committed, even through sea,” he said.
After India's precision strikes, Pakistan attempted to attack Indian military bases from May 8 through 10. The Indian forces launched a fierce counter-attack on several Pakistani military installations, damaging many of them.
India and Pakistan reached a ceasefire understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border shelling,drone and missile strikes. The understanding was reached after Pakistan DGMO requested his Indian counterpart for a ceasefire.
(With PTI inputs)
