Pakistan aims to resolve all matters, including Kashmir, via discussions with India, stated Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday.
Sharif’s offer for peace was presented while he was speaking at a special session of the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) Assembly in Muzaffarabad on “Kashmir Solidarity Day”, an annual event in Pakistan to express support for the Kashmiris.
“We want all issues, including Kashmir, to be resolved through talks,” he said.
Sharif stated that “India must move past the mindset of August 5, 2019, honor commitments made to the UN, and initiate a dialogue.” His comments pertained to the abrogation of Article 370, which eliminated Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and divided the state into two Union Territories.
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New Delhi has consistently informed Islamabad that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh “were, are, and will always” be an essential part of the nation. The already tense bilateral relations plummeted after India revoked Article 370.
Sharif stated that dialogue is the sole means for India and Pakistan to mend their tense relationship, as indicated in the Lahore Declaration of 1999, which was signed during the visit of then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Pakistan.
India has already expressed its desire for normal neighborly ties with Pakistan in a setting devoid of terrorism, hostility, and violence.
Sharif charged India with stockpiling arms and claimed that this would not lead to tranquility in the area. He expressed that India ought to be “wise” and that the sole path to progress was peace.
He claimed that the sole resolution to the Kashmir conflict was “the right to self-determination” according to UN resolution.