Letter from Delhi: India committed to peace with Pakistan, says Mukherjee

Indian president felicitates Pakistani counterpart on Pakistan Day

ISLAMABAD: Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has said his country is committed to peaceful and friendly relations with Pakistan even as the two neighbours are struggling to resume a stalled bilateral peace process.

“India remains committed to peaceful, friendly and cooperative relations with Pakistan. I am of the firm conviction that our cooperation will lead to progress and prosperity in our region,” said Mukherjee in a letter written to President Mamnoon Hussain to greet him on Pakistan Day.



The letter released by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad on Monday says the Indian president extended best wishes to his Pakistani counterpart for his ‘good health and well-being’.

This comes at a time when Islamabad and New Delhi are trying to find a way out of the current impasse in their bilateral dialogue, which was stalled due to a terrorist attack on an Indian airbase in Pathankot in January. India blamed Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad for the brazen assault and asked Islamabad to take action against the group.

A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to probe the deadly attack will travel to India later this month in a move that may help pave the way for a key meeting between the foreign secretaries of the two countries.

They were to meet in January but their meeting was postponed in the aftermath of the Pathankot attack. Now officials say that the two top foreign policy bureaucrats are likely to meet in April after the JIT visit.

Pakistan ratifies nuclear convention

Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Foreign Office on Monday said that Pakistan has ratified the 2005 Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM).

“The Instrument of Ratification was signed by President Mamnoon Hussain on the advice of the prime minister,” the statement added.

The formal ratification came after the National Command Authority (NCA), headed by the prime minister, gave its approval in principle for the ratification of the Amended Convention last month.

The original CPPNM, which entered into force on 8 February 1987, is a legally binding international instrument in the area of physical protection of nuclear material. It establishes measures related to the prevention, detection and punishment of offences related to nuclear material.



On 8 July 2005, States Parties to the CPPNM adopted by consensus an Amendment to the CPPNM which expands the scope of the convention to cover nuclear facilities.

The Foreign Office spokesperson said the ratification of the 2005 Amendment to the CPPNM was a reaffirmation of Pakistan’s commitment to the objective of nuclear security, and reinforces Pakistan’s credentials as a responsible nuclear state.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2016.