ISLAMABAD: Any meaningful engagement between Pakistan and India remains dependent on a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute, the Pakistani foreign office said on Friday.
Kashmir has long been a flashpoint between the nuclear-armed neighbors, both of which claim the region in full, but rule it in part. Tension was renewed after New Delhi withdrew the autonomy of the Himalayan region in August 2019 and split it into federally administered territories, prompting outrage in Pakistan, the downgrading of diplomatic ties and suspension of bilateral trade.
But recent media reports have suggested that the two governments have reopened a back channel of diplomacy aimed at a modest roadmap to normalizing ties over the next several months. Last month, the military operational heads of Pakistan and India signed an agreement to stop firing along the Line of Control (LoC) — their de facto border in the Kashmir region.
While he did not directly comment on the reported backchannel diplomacy, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman, Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry, said in Friday’s press briefing that “Kashmir remains central to any meaningful engagement between India and Pakistan.”
“We believe durable peace, security and development in the region hinge on peaceful resolution of the long-standing Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” he said.
Chaudhry’s comments come after the United Arab Emirates’ envoy to Washington, Yousef Al-Otaiba, said in a discussion with Stanford University’s Hoover Institution earlier this week that the Gulf state had been mediating between India and Pakistan and had helped them bring Kashmir escalation down.
The foreign office spokesman did not confirm the UAE’s role but said that Pakistan “has never shied away from talks with India.”
He said: “As for the role of third parties, we have always maintained that the international community has an important role to play in averting risks to peace and stability in the region and facilitating a just and lasting solution to the Jammu & Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.”