Pakistan Army's call for talks likely to get cold shoulder from New Delhi

A source in New Delhi said that the onus was on Pakistan to create a conducive atmosphere for talks

A recent call for “dialogue and diplomacy” to settle his nation’s disputes with India from Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa is unlikely to evoke any positive response from New Delhi, which is also opposed to his proposal for involving China.

Officials say that while New Delhi is monitoring the political instability in Islamabad, the government is of the view that whatever way the current crisis ends, the Pakistan Army will continue to have the final word when it comes to the country’s troubled relations with India.

Gen Bajwa’s proposal for a Pakistan-China-India trilateral is likely to get a cold shoulder from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in New Delhi, which has maintained that its disputes with Pakistan must be resolved bilaterally, without any interference by any third party.

Also Read | Pakistan ready to move forward on Kashmir if India agrees, says General Bajwa

New Delhi has not yet officially reacted to the Pakistan Army chief’s latest call for talks or the proposal he tacitly put forward for setting up an India-Pakistan-China trilateral mechanism to resolve issues, including the boundary disputes.

Amid attempts to oust the government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad, Gen Bajwa on Saturday said that all disputes between Pakistan and India should be settled peacefully through dialogue. He said that Pakistan continued to believe in using diplomacy to resolve all outstanding issues with India, including Kashmir, in order to keep the “flames of fire away” from the region.

He also tacitly proposed a trilateral dialogue involving India, Pakistan and China and said that the India-China border dispute was a matter of “great concern” for Pakistan. “We want it (India-China) to be settled quickly through dialogue and diplomacy.”

A source in New Delhi, however, said that the onus was on Pakistan to create a conducive atmosphere for talks by taking effective action to stop the export of terror to India.

“India desired normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan and committed to addressing outstanding issues, if any, bilaterally and peacefully in accordance with the Simla Agreement and the Lahore Declaration,” said the source, who is aware of the Modi Government’s policy approach to the neighbouring country.

“However, any meaningful dialogue can be held only in an atmosphere free of terror, hostility and violence. The onus is on Pakistan to create such a conducive atmosphere,” added the source.

New Delhi is unlikely to accept the proposal for any India-Pakistan-China trilateral talks.

China and Pakistan had opposed the August 5, 2019 move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and to reorganise the state into two Union Territories.

New Delhi has been steadfastly resisting moves by Pakistan and China to bring the issue of J&K back to the UN Security Council’s agenda.

It has been maintaining that the 1972 Shimla Agreement between India and Pakistan and the 1999 Lahore Declaration by the two sides had left no scope for the UN or any third party to play any role in resolving the “outstanding issues” between the two South Asian neighbours.

New Delhi, however, claims that Pakistan illegally ceded about 5,180 sq km of India’s territory to China in 1963.

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