Basit says talks with India is Pakistan’s strength, not weak point

ISLAMABAD: Abdul Basit, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India announced on Wednesday that Pakistan was ready to hold talks with India, but clarified that “holding talks would be Pakistan’s strength, not weakness”.

“After fought wars [with India], we want resolutions of issues through dialogue. If we are ready for dialogue, it is our strength, not weakness,” the High Commissioner said in an interview on Wednesday.

Basit said Pakistan had always been initiating frameworks to hold talks with India on all bilateral issues.

“The basic thing is that dialogue should be a comprehensive one, including all issues,” said the Pakistan’s High Commissioner.

Commenting on Indian External Minister Sushma Swaraj’s statement that dialogue and terrorism cannot go side by side, Basit said Pakistan could also link talks with growing violence by India in the held-Kashmir and withdrawal of Indian forces from Siachen.

He added, however, problems could only be resolved at the dialogue table and so Pakistan was not thinking about any such conditions at the moment.

The Pakistani official said that both Pakistan and India were not making progress due to their disagreement on several issues.

“Negotiations are the need of South Asia and the entire world…We waited for it earlier and would continue to do so,” Basit said.

To a question on Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Maulana Azhar, the High Commissioner said the cases were in the courts,

He also said that Pakistan was ready to take action against Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Maulana Azhar if proofs against them were provided.