Five Preconditions Set By Pakistan for the Resumption of Dialogue with India

On Tuesday, Pakistan put forward its five preconditions that must be fulfilled for the resumption of meaningful talk with India for sorting out all unsettled issues, including the decades-old dispute over Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). 

Dr. Moeed Yousaf, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Security, while giving his remarks over the on-and-off dialogues between the two countries in an interview with the Indian journalist Karan Thapar, said that Pakistan is in the favor of peaceful talk and resolving all the issues through dialogue. 

Moeed, however, declared that for any meaningful dialogue to be resumed between the two neighboring countries, India must follow and fulfill five preconditions; to discharge all prisoners that were politically put behind the bars in Kashmir, cancel the domicile law which permits non-Kashmiris to settle down in the disputed area, end inhuman curfew and restrictions, stop state terrorism in Pakistan, and end abusing human rights. 

The Indian government had revoked Article 35-A and 370 of the Indian Constitution on August 05, 2019, thereby depriving Kashmir of its special status. The act was strongly condemned by Pakistan, calling it a violation of the resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council and the bilateral agreements. 

Dr. Yousaf also talked about the involvement of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), an Indian intelligence agency, in spreading terrorism in Pakistan, claiming that Pakistan had proof the mastermind behind the APS terrorist attack of December 2014 was connected with RAW. 

The Special Assistant to PM added that India, by using its missions in a neighboring country, also sponsored and facilitated the terrorist attack at Pakistan Stock Exchange, a five-star hotel in Gwadar, and the Chinese Consulate in Karachi. 

He further accused India of spending $1million to get different factions of TTP to merge together in Afghanistan. 

The SAPM said that the Kashmir issue is the most important of all to Pakistan and that it is necessary that in every dialogue the wishes and aspirations of Kashmiri people be addressed. 

Comparing the mindsets holding the charge of the two neighboring countries, Dr. Moeed said that the Government of Pakistan was all positive to pursue economic security and mending the fences only to prevail a peaceful and secure environment in the region but the people taking offices in New Delhi were blinded by the Hindutva ideology. He added that the extremist ideology adopted by the BJP government caused India major harm in the shape of it losing neighborhood, whereas Pakistan was the one trying to maintain peace in the neighborhood. 

When questioned about the allegations India made against Pakistan about taking out terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Moeed said that Pakistan had extended support for carrying out investigations in all cases but India failed to provide any evidence in the courts that resulted in the cases still remaining impending.