Pakistan’s efforts for “positive outreach and peace overtures” with India have been met with an obstrucitve atitude, said Interim Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Asia Society conference in New York, he stressed on the need for “constructive dialogue” on longstanding conflicts such as the Kashmir dispute for better conditions while adding that “Pakistan desires peaceful and cooperative neighbourly ties with India”.
He referred to the opening of the Kartarpur corridor for visa-free visits for the Indian Sikh community as well as his predecessor’s visit to India for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as examples of Pakistan’s goodwill gestures.
The interim minister regretted India’s “abhorrent human rights violations” against “innocent Kashmiris at the hands of Indian security forces”, “worsening religious extremism especially against Muslims”, which he said have further “deteriorated relations between the two countries”.
For regional peace and stability, constructive dialogue is necessary on all outstanding issues, he stressed, but India’s “anti-Pakistan theatrics for domestic elections” are taking the two countries away from this objective.
With regards to China, the interim foreign minister stressed that Pakistan’s relations with the East Asian country are anchored in strong trade and economic ties as it remains our “largest trading partner” and “a major investor, especially in infrastructure and energy sectors”.
However, he underscored, that Pakistan’s relationship with China is “not a zero-sum game and not at the expense of our relations with any other country. Least of all the United States of America, with which we have robust ties and a relationship of trust”.
