Senior Journalist.Delhi.
Last week in Islamabad, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that ‘Pakistan is ready for talks with India, provided the neighboring country is ready for serious talks on important issues, as war is no longer an option’. He further said that ‘it is equally important that our neighbor understands that we cannot be normal neighbors until the doubts are cleared.’ This is the second time this year that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has offered talks. Earlier in January last, he had said a similar thing in an interview given to Dubai-based news channel Al Arabiya.
Reacting to this, Indian spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “An environment free of terror and hostility is essential for any kind of engagement between the two countries.” India’s stand regarding Pakistan has always been that ‘terrorism and dialogue’ are not possible together. In various sessions of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Pakistan has accused India of weaponizing terrorism for diplomatic gains. On the other hand, India has raised the issue of cross border terrorism in every global forum and bilateral talks.
When US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller was asked to react to Shehbaz Sharif’s statement, he said that we support direct talks between India and Pakistan on various issues. This has been our stand for a long time. Some Pakistanis took this to mean that the US supported them, while the US only clarified that it regards all India-Pakistan issues as bilateral.