Islamabad: Pakistan Thursday reacted sharply to Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley’s remarks on choosing between talks with India or with Kashmiri separatists, saying “we do not accept any conditionality” and that Kashmiris were “struggling” for self-determination.
Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam, answering a query during a briefing, said: “As we have been stating, the dialogue between Pakistan and India is not a favour that one country does to the other. Dialogue between Pakistan and India is a necessity for peace in this region so that South Asia also focuses on economic development and welfare of the people.”
“We do not accept any conditionality. Kashmiris are not Indian separatists, they are people in occupied territory struggling for their right to self-determination that has been recognised by the United Nations resolutions. Pakistan is a party to the dispute. So this contention is not acceptable,” she said.
Jaitley, speaking at the India Economic Summit in New Delhi Wednesday, said Pakistan should draw a red line whether it wants to talk to the government of India or those who want to break India.
He said India was “ready to speak to Pakistan” and was “willing to normalise the relationship” but “then there are a few red lines”.
“We create the environment, we fix up a dialogue at the level of foreign secretaries, our foreign secretary is to visit Pakistan (and) literally a few hours before that they invite the separatists for a dialogue to their high commission (in New Delhi).
“So I think a new red line has to be drawn in Pakistan to reconsider this question that who they want to speak to? Do they want to speak to the government of India or they want to speak to those who want to break India,” he said.
“So unless Pakistan makes the conscious choice, a dialogue with Pakistan will not be possible,” he said.