NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit has said that Pakistan wants to resolve Kashmir dispute under Shimla Agreement.
Abdul Basit during an interview with an Indian TV channel on Wednesday said Pakistan is ready to talk with India. “Why can’t the two countries have a comprehensive dialogue?” He said Kashmir issue can only be resolved through the Shimla Agreement and talks were important.
He also denied the recent beheading of Indian soldiers by Pakistan army near the Line of Control. “Our army never gets involved in beheading. Ours is a professional army,” he said.
To a question regarding Sajjan Jindal’s visit to Pakistan, he said this was a private visit and has nothing to do with Kulbhushan Jadhav case.
On the question should India and Pakistan play cricket during Champions Trophy, he said, “There has been never been a dearth of interest on our part. We always wanted such bilateral activities. We want to address all the issues and we want to engage with India without any pre-condition.”
Abdul Basit declared Kulbhushan Jadhav a terrorist and said that International Court of Justice (ICJ) did not give any order regarding consular access for Jadhav.
He said in an interview to an Indian news channel that Pakistan’s position in Jadhav case is very strong. While talking about ICJ verdict, Basit said that it was only a provisional order. He said that situation will clear after the detailed verdict by the ICJ.
The High Commissioner said that major conflict between Pakistan and India is Kashmir. He said all issues including Kashmir could be solved through dialogues.
Answering a question, he said,” We have been waiting since Shimla agreement was signed back in 1972, so now it has almost been 45-46 years. We are waiting for this problem to be resolved bilaterally, but so far, we do not see any genuine desire on the part of India to really settle this issue once and for all.”
INP/