Constructive dialogue

Kartarpur Corridor initiative to the recent return of Indian pilot Abhinandan as a goodwill gesture during the height of the conflict, Pakistan has taken a number of peace initiatives and invited India to talks. Every time Pakistan makes a peace offer, India responds with brazen hawkishness. We have seen how India has not only become an overly oppressive state under Modi but has also ruined its diplomatic relations in the region. India took the unilateral step in occupied Kashmir on August 5, 2019, thereby closing the door to dialogue with Pakistan.

While Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stated that he is “absolutely willing and ready” to engage with India, he has also stated that the “onus remains on India to take the necessary step to engage towards result-oriented solutions.” Addressing the 6th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Kazakhstan, Prime Minister Shehbaz stated that Pakistan seeks peaceful relations with all of its neighbors, including India, emphasizing the importance of both countries cooperating to combat poverty, unemployment, and scarcity of resources. The statement by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is welcome, but it is nothing new for Pakistan. Pakistan has been attempting to build bridges between the two sides for decades, even after Modi came to power. From the Kartarpur Corridor initiative to the recent return of Indian pilot Abhinandan as a goodwill gesture during the height of the conflict, Pakistan has taken a number of peace initiatives and invited India to talks. Every time Pakistan makes a peace offer, India responds with brazen hawkishness. We have seen how India has not only become an overly oppressive state under Modi but has also ruined its diplomatic relations in the region. India took the unilateral step in occupied Kashmir on August 5, 2019, thereby closing the door to dialogue with Pakistan.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also correctly stated that India has become a threat to its minorities, neighbors, and the entire region under Modi. India launched a war with Pakistan in response to a false flag operation in Pulwama. When the Pulwama attack occurred, Pakistan offered cooperation, but India falsely blamed Pakistan because Modi wanted to win the Indian general elections at the time on the back of his patriotism. Because India carried out irresponsible airstrikes on Pakistani territory, a war between the two nuclear states was on the verge of breaking out. Despite Indian aggression against Pakistan, as a goodwill gesture, we returned a captured Indian pilot and requested restraint and peace. When Modi won his second term with a landslide, he revoked Occupied Kashmir’s special status.
After three years, Indian-occupied Kashmir remains in darkness and oppression. Syed Ali Geelani’s body was taken away from his family by Indian security forces; his son-in-law Altaf Shah recently died in custody after being treated inhumanely by Indian authorities despite being terminally ill; Yasin Malik has been convicted on false charges, and so on. This is what India has done to the Kashmiri leadership, and it is for this reason that Pakistan has been highlighting Indian atrocities in Occupied Kashmir on a global scale. The recent statement by Germany’s foreign minister in a joint press conference with Bilawal Bhutto that Berlin had a “role and responsibility” over Kashmir did not go down well in India, but the truth cannot be hidden: India has long been an oppressive state. However, talks with India should never be ruled out because the issue of Kashmir will be raised once such negotiations start. Both countries would benefit economically if India and Pakistan increased bilateral trade and opened trade routes for each other. Even in the midst of a war, countries such as China and India continue to trade. So, trade can occur, but not at the cost of Kashmir.