ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday said Islamabad would soon write to New Delhi for talks on Kashmir amid the bloodshed in the held territory.
Addressing a news conference here, Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry will send a letter to his Indian counterpart for dialogue over the Kashmir dispute but added Pakistan will continue to raise the issue at the global level.
The adviser said Kashmir would be on top of the agenda of Pakistan during forthcoming session of the UN General Assembly.
Aziz said under the decisions made during this month’s ‘Envoys Conference’ in Islamabad, the foreign secretary would formally be writing to his Indian counterpart for a dialogue on Kashmir.
The adviser said the ‘Envoys Conference’ had deliberated for three days on major foreign policy challenges of Pakistan and to make recommendations which were then presented to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on August 3. “The government wants to resolve the Kashmir issue and we are prepared to work on this,” he added.
Aziz said Pakistan was concerned over India’s policy of not engaging in a comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan as it was not conducive for peace in South Asia.
“The envoys conference spent considerable time on the grim situation in Kashmir. The conference emphasised the indigenous character of the movement in Kashmir and condemned the atrocities being committed by the Indian forces on unarmed and innocent Kashmiris,” he added.
“The conference decided to continue to extend full diplomatic, political and moral support to the Kashmiris movement for self-determination,” he said.
He said Pakistan had written to the UN Human Rights Council on human rights violations and the Council had conveyed to India that it wanted to send a fact-finding mission to Kashmir.
About Indian involvement in subversive activities in Pakistan, he said Pakistan had already shared a dossier on the issue with the world community and UN. He said the dossier would be updated before next UN General Assembly Session.
Aziz said there were indications that Jamaatul Ahrar - a splinter group of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan – was involved in the recent Quetta attack. He said Afghan intelligence agency National Directorate of Security was known to be indirectly supporting such groups and there was also collaboration between the NDS and India’s Research and Analysis Wing.
He said the alleged RAW agent Kulbhushan Yadav was being investigated as he was not alone and was “working through an elaborate network”.
He emphasised the need for practical implementation of understanding between Pakistan and Afghanistan for closer coordination between the Inter-Services Intelligence and the NDS.
