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'Will heed to ceasefire': Pakistan speaks of dialogue with India, but denies Pahalgam role
India has identified Pakistan-based perpetrators of April attack in Pahalgam, shared these details with several countries as part of a diplomatic outreach
Pakistan foreign minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday said his country wants a relationship of peace and stability with all neighbours, including India. His comments came soon after India's S Jaishankar cited the recent Pahalgam terror attack in Kashmir, and called out the “three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism”.
In his address at the SCO foreign ministers' meeting in the Chinese city of Tianjin, Dar called the last three months as having seen "extremely disturbing developments" in South Asia. He also claimed India had attributed the Pahalgam attack to Pakistan “without a credible investigation or verifiable evidence”.
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This, he said, brought the two nuclear-armed states to the brink of a major conflict.
India has identified the Pakistan-based perpetrators of the April attack in Pahalgam, and shared these details with several countries as part of a diplomatic outreach.
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The outreach came soon after India carried out Operation Sindoor in May against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians.
Dar, who is also Pakistan's deputy PM, said his country “remains steadfast in its commitment to the ceasefire”.
The two countries reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.
Dar called for dialogue. "We believe that disputes and differences are resolved through dialogue and diplomacy, instead of conflict and coercion," he added.
India has stressed that it would speak to Pakistan, if at all, only on the issue of terrorism as that appears to be Pakistan's state policy against India.
Dar, however, said at the SCO meet: “Terrorism is the common concern of humanity that threatens global security. All forms of terrorism, including state terrorism are condemnable. We must shun the use of terrorism for political purposes and combat this menace through a cooperative approach, including addressing its root causes,” he said.
The SCO comprises 10 member states: China, Russia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Belarus. China currently holds the rotating presidency of the SCO.
