Pakistan again says no ‘backchannel’ talks with India

Islamabad reiterates desire for peaceful neighbourhood

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan on Thursday again denied it was holding any ‘backchannel’ talks with bordering India but reiterated its desire for a peaceful neighbourhood.

“At this stage, there is no back channel [talks] between Pakistan and India,” said Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch while responding to a question at a weekly briefing.

Relations between the two neighbouring countries have remained at a standstill for the last many years but the real dip came in August 2019 when New Delhi unilaterally revoked the special status of the disputed Kashmir region under its illegal occupation.

Pakistan has not only downgraded diplomatic ties but suspended bilateral trade with India in reaction to New Delhi’s controversial move.

However, there was a chance of a possible thaw in ties when two countries engaged in backchannel talks in 2021.

Read more: Pak-India ‘backchannel’ talks hit dead end

The secret meetings between senior security officials of Pakistan and India in the UAE led to the renewal of ceasefire understanding along the Line of Control (LoC) in February 2021.

The next move was to restore bilateral trade but the process came to a halt when the government of then premier Imran Khan turned down the decision to import sugar and cotton from India.

Some reports later claimed that backchannel talks even discussed the possibility of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Pakistan.

Both sides, however, never officially confirmed or denied those reports.

There were hopes of some positive movement after the change of government in Pakistan in April last year.

However, nothing happened because of political and economic uncertainty in Pakistan.

Sources said even backchannel talks between the arch rivals were no longer active.

In January this year, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar maintained that ever since the current government came to power, there had been no backchannel talks under way between Pakistan and India.

As elections are scheduled in Pakistan later this year and India too will head for parliamentary polls early next year, therefore, no major development in the bilateral relationship is expected in the foreseeable future.

Against this backdrop, it will be interesting to see if Pakistan attends the Shangai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers conference in India in May and summit meeting in June.

India has already shared an invitation for the foreign ministers conference to be held in Goa.

Pakistan has confirmed receiving the invitation and said the decision would be taken at an appropriate time.

During the weekly briefing, the FO spokesperson also confirmed that seven Pakistani nationals had drowned in a boat wreck near Benghazi city of Libya.

She added that the Pakistani embassy in Libya was assisting in the process of identifying the bodies.

Zahra said the bodies would be brought back to the country with the help of the local authorities and International Committee of the Red Cross.

She continued that the Pakistan embassy and foreign affairs ministry were in touch with the families of the people who had died in the boat tragedy.