Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry. PHOTO: APP
While addressing at the US think tank Atlantic Council in Washington on Thursday, Chaudhry said it was the Indian government, and not Pakistan, which had put a stop to the Indo-Pak dialogue.
“Pakistan is open to dialogue with India. The only solution to move forward is dialogue, which is is suspended because of India,” the foreign secretary said.
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Chaudhry, who is in Washington for the US-Pak Security, Strategic Stability, and Non-proliferation dialogue, said, “Indians have said that they would like to have dialogue in an environment free of terrorism. We say the same and are ready, whenever India is ready to talk”.
India suspended the scheduled foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan in August 2014 following a meeting between Pakistan’s ambassador to India Abdul Basit and Kashmiri separatist leaders.
Responding to a question, Chauhdry said nuclear weapons were a great stabilising factor in South Asia and that the two nuclear power countries need to act responsibly.
A lot of investment has been made to ensure there is no threat to the nuclear weapons and installations, he said, adding that Pakistan is fully committed to ensure its territory is not used by terrorists.
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“There has been a paradigm shift in Pakistan in the last one year in this regard. There are no good or bad terrorists, they are only liabilities. As a result we have achieved remarkable success (in fight against terrorism).”
The foreign secretary claimed Pakistan was taking measures to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attack to justice, despite the fact it had not received enough evidence against those who were responsible for it.
The article originally appeared on The Indian Express
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