Pakistan may invite India for talks on Kashmir: Sartaj Aziz

NEW DELHI: Pakistan plans to invite India for a dialogue on Kashmir issue and its foreign secretary would soon write to his counterpart here with the offer, Prime Minister’s advisor on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz said on Friday.

“Our foreign secretary would formally be writing to his counterpart,” said Aziz, as he briefed media in Islamabad about Pakistan’s Envoys Conference held on August 1-3 to deliberate on major foreign policy challenges of Pakistan and make recommendations.

He said the conference spent considerable time on the “grim situation” in Kashmir and discussed a number of diplomatic initiatives being taken. It was decided that Pakistan should invite India for a dialogue on Kashmir issue.

“As for India, the Envoys Conference noted that India’s policy of not engaging in a comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan was not conducive for peace in South Asia,” said Aziz.

The MEA had, on Thursday, indicated that contacts between the Indo-Pak foreign secretaries and NSAs have been adversely impacted following Islamabad’s recent rhetoric and support for the recent developments in Jammu and Kashmir.

The two foreign secretaries and NSAs have been in touch notwithstanding the Pathankot terror strike. The Pakistan foreign secretary even visited India few months back for a multilateral meet. However, the two sides could not schedule a standalone foreign secretary meeting as decided.