ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday categorically rejected the speculations of any secret talks between Pakistan and India through back-door channels or third party involvement (the United Arab Emirates).
“We are not having any talks [with India] at the moment. UAE is not facilitating any talks,” Qureshi said told TRT, a Turkish television network.
The foreign minister said the UAE had good relations with both Pakistan and India, the two South Asian nuclear states, but there were no such talks.
He, however, added that Pakistan never shied away from talks but it was India, which had been shying away from the talks.
The foreign minister referred to the statement of Prime Minister Imran Khan that if India would take one step forward, Pakistan would take two.
He said Pakistan was willing for talks but India would have to create a conducive environment vitiated by its unilateral August 5, 2019 action in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), which deprived the Kashmiris of their fundamental rights.
“How talks can be held in such an environment?” the foreign minister questioned. Even some secular segments in India were saying that the policy of Indian government for Kashmir had failed to achieve the objectives, he added.
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