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“No solution is tenable unless it is in sync with the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. That is fundamental,” said Abdul Basit, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India, while talking about engaging in a meaningful dialogue with India over J&K.
Speaking at an event organised by ThePrint, Basit said that the J&K issue is not a territorial dispute and cannot be pushed to the “back-burner”. He went on to add that they do not see India trying to engage Pakistan in a discussion on J&K “at this point of time”.
With LoC marred by regular instances of violence and ceasefire violation, Basit insisted that the Pakistani army is not averse to normalising relations with India.
Basit further talked about democracy taking roots in Pakistan and said that “neither military nor security forces can stop diplomacy anymore”.
On being questioned whether Pakistan will not work on the matters of terrorism unless the J&K issue is addressed, Basit said Pakistan is “not shying away from discussing terrorism”, “but bilateral engagement must be separated from terror”.
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