ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and India blamed each other for frosty relations on Friday while reiterating their entrenched diplomatic positions on issues such as Kashmir and terrorism, suggesting no thaw in ties was expected between them anytime soon.
The foreign ministers of the nuclear-armed rivals spoke bitterly at separate press conferences after a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Indian coastal state of Goa.
Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari told reporters India’s decision to scrap the special status of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir in 2019 had undermined the environment for holding talks between the two countries.
“Pakistan’s principled stance [on Kashmir] remains the same,” Bhutto-Zardari said while addressing a news conference after returning to his country. “As long as India doesn’t reverse its illegal and unilateral action of August 5, 2019, in Kashmir, we cannot engage in a meaningful dialogue [with it].”
The Pakistani minister stated India’s move in Kashmir was in violation of international law.
“The onus is on India to create a conducive environment for talks,” he added.
Bhutto-Zardari was also asked about the statement of India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar who said Kashmir’s special status was “history” and blamed Pakistan for backing “terrorists” in region.
New Delhi has for years accused Islamabad of helping militant outfits who have battled security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir since the late 1980s.
Pakistan denies the accusation, saying it only provides diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiris fighting for their right to self-determination.
The Indian foreign minister told reporters that “victims of terrorism do not sit together with perpetrators” while responding to Pakistani minister’s comments during the conference.
“Victims of terrorism defend themselves, counter acts of terrorism, they call it out, they delegitimize it, and that is exactly what is happening,” he added.
However, Bhutto-Zardari told reporters in Pakistan there was “an insecurity behind [India’s] insecurity.”
He said New Delhi was peddling “false narrative, propaganda and lies” about Muslims and the people of Pakistan.
“By going there and speaking and presenting our stance, we break that myth and propaganda,” he added. “They try to prove that every Pakistani is a terrorist, but when Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari sits before them, their false narrative and propaganda are negated even if I say nothing.”
The foreign minister’s visit to India is the first by a high-profile Pakistani official since former prime minister Nawaz Sharif attended Indian premier Narendra Modi’s swearing-in in 2014 and de facto foreign minister Sartaj Aziz went to Amritsar in December 2016 to attend the Heart of Asia conference.
