Onus now on India to resume composite dialogue: FO

Foreign Office spokesperson says India unilaterally cancelled scheduled talks without any valid reason

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Thursday that the onus is now on India to take initiative to resume composite dialogue between the two countries.

Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam, during her weekly briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, echoed Sartaj Aziz’s earlier statements, saying India unilaterally cancelled scheduled foreign secretary-level talks without a valid reason.

“Pakistan believes that peace in the neighbourhood is important for development,” she said.

Earlier, the premier’s top foreign policy aide, Aziz, precluded the possibility of talks with India in the near future, blaming New Delhi’s obduracy for the stalemate.

“We don’t expect any breakthrough on resumption of bilateral dialogue with India while the Modi administration is at the helm,” Aziz, the prime minister’s adviser on foreign affairs and national security, told journalists after inaugurating the annual conference of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics on December 2.

“India suspended the dialogue and now it is its responsibility to take an initiative [for reviving the stalled talks],” Aziz said, referring to the cancellation of the scheduled foreign secretary-level talks by New Delhi. He added that Pakistan could not compromise on its self-respect and honour for friendship with India.

Regarding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif attending his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi’s oath-taking ceremony, Aslam said Pakistan acted in good faith.

Shifting her focus to relations with Afghanistan, the spokesperson said ties between the two countries are broadening and deepening after the installation of the new government in Afghanistan.

“Pakistan wants stability, peace and prosperity in Afghanistan,” she reiterated.

“Pakistan is practicing the policy of non-interference in Afghanistan and expects that everyone else will practice non-interference."

Further, the spokesperson appreciated the Afghan leadership’s statements that they would not allow Afghan territory to be used against any neighbour.

Afghanistan’s new president told the leaders of India and Pakistan he would not let his country become the battleground of a proxy war November 26.