Kashmiris must be a principal party if India wants dialogue: Moeed Yusuf

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Security Dr Moeed Yusuf on Tuesday revealed that New Delhi has sent a message expressing a desire for talks on Kashmir issue, ARY News reported.

In an interview with the Indian journalist Karan Thapar, the PM’s aide made it clear that Pakistan is ready for talks with India if it acknowledges Kashmiris as a principal party during the dialogue.

Moeed Yusuf maintained that the dialogues with India were impossible without ending the one-year-long military siege and atrocities on innocent Kashmiris. Moeed Yusuf asked India to normalize the situation in occupied Kashmir for dialogues.

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He was of the view that Pakistan is committed to peace in the region but the Indian government’s Hindutva and anti-Muslim policies were major threat to peace.

Moeed Yusuf said, “Pakistan stands for peace and we want to move forward”. Responding to a question, he said, “Kashmiris hate India.”

Moeed Yusuf maintained that Kashmiris are not ready to live under Indian occupation and India must reverse the military siege in Kashmir and roll back the new citizenship Act.

India behind terror attacks in Pakistan

Yusuf maintained that India is behind terror attacks in Pakistan and Pakistan has enough evidence to suggest that in 2019 the Indian Embassy in Kabul had given $1 million to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan to help the TTP merge with four militant groups.

He added that the handler of the 2014 Peshawar Army Public School attack was in touch with “an Indian consulate”, adding that Pakistan has the phone number of the handler’s contact.

Yusuf also told the Indian journalist that the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan is using think-tanks as a front to funnel money to terrorists operating in Balochistan.