ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has always believed in dialogue and diplomacy, the foreign office maintained on Thursday, adding it was imperative for the two South Asian nuclear-armed neighbors to address their differences through peaceful negotiations.
"Pakistan has always welcomed the idea of talks with India," Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, the ministry's spokesperson, told a weekly press briefing in Islamabad. "We believe that all issues, including the Kashmir dispute, must be resolved through dialogue."
Chaudhri added the recent communication between the Indian and Pakistani director generals of military operations over a hotline "should be seen in the same context."
In rare development last week, India and Pakistan agreed on "strict observance" of all ceasefire agreements and understandings along the Line of Control separating the two sides of the disputed Kashmir region, the military's public relations wing, ISPR, said in a statement.
"The principle of negotiations states that anyone who runs away has a weak position on the negotiating table," the foreign office spokesperson said. "The way we have been articulating our position shows that we have a position of strength."
Pakistan's former high commissioner to India Abdul Basit said that "third party mediation" was important for any meaningful dialogue between the two countries.
"Pakistan is always willing to resolve this longstanding dispute [of Kashmir] through dialogue and one hopes that India would realize that its actions [on August 5, 2019] were unconstitutional and would never be acceptable to Pakistan or the people of Kashmir," he told Arab News, adding that It was now up to India to reach out to Pakistan and amicably address all outstanding problems.
"The government has taken a position that it will not restore diplomatic relations with India until the administration in New Delhi revokes its illegal actions of August 5, 2019,” he continued. “For this, I feel that third party mediation is absolutely necessarily since there is no mutual trust between the two countries even at a very low level."