Pakistan will not have bilateral relations with India until New Delhi reviews Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision four years ago to revoke Kashmir’s autonomy, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told India Today, a private news television channel.
(Bloomberg) — Pakistan will not have bilateral relations with India until New Delhi reviews Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision four years ago to revoke Kashmir’s autonomy, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told India Today, a private news television channel.
“Until India reviews the actions that took on August 5, 2019, Pakistan is not in a position to engage bilaterally with India,” said Zardari, who was attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s foreign ministers’ meeting in India last week, in an interview that was broadcast on Saturday. “India unilaterally violated not only international law, not only UN Security Council resolutions, but also bilateral agreements between India and Pakistan.”
The tensions between the neighbors are rising following a deadly attack on five Indian soldiers in the contested Himalayan region of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday. There was a similar attack on April 20, when terrorists ambushed a military truck carrying Indian soldiers.
During his visit to India, Zardari repeatedly called for a peaceful settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute through relevant UN Security Council resolutions and dialogue, according to a statement from Pakistan’s foreign ministry.
While Pakistan is “committed to combating terrorism,” India will have to examine the Kashmir issue to break the “frozen peace” talks between the nations, Zardari said in the interview with India Today.
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