No change has occurred in Kashmir policy, India has to returned back to 4th August 2019 position regarding Kashmir: FM Bilawal

GOA, May 05 (SABAH): Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday said that the people of Pakistan and India want peace, stressing that New Delhi has to create a “conducive environment” for talks between the neighbouring nations. Bilawal Bhutto said that there is clear and solid stance of Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, no change has occurred in Kashmir policy, India has to returned back to the 4^th August 2019 position regarding Kashmir.

His comments came while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers’ in the Indian state of Goa.

The visit by Bilawal Bhutto to India is the first by a Pakistani foreign minister to Delhi in over a decade and has garnered a lot of media attention in both countries. The two have fought three wars, share frosty relations, and have downgraded their diplomatic ties.

The onus is on India to create a conducive environment for talks, said the foreign minister, adding that India’s decision to end the special status of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 undermined the environment for holding talks between the neighbours.

Bilawal said, however, that despite his rare visit to India, there was no change in the status of diplomatic relations. “India took illegal steps in August 2019 and violated the United Nations resolutions by its actions,” said the FM.

The foreign minister retreated that Pakistan has a clear and solid stance on the Kashmir issue, highlighting that India’s “one-sided actions” have affected the terms between both countries.

“India will have to revoke its August 5 decision,” he added. Bilawal further talked about the tensions between both countries surrounding sports and said that it should be separated from politics and foreign policy.

The foreign minister, who is also the chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), said that he tried to send Pakistan’s cricket blind to India but they were not issued their visas.

“Why is India afraid of Pakistan’s blind cricket team?” he questioned. “I have tried to Pakistan’s internal politics confined to its borders.”

Bilawal also said that when Pakistan gets the chairmanship of SCO, it will also be able to organise a successful meeting.

Bilawal said that the PPP had always advocated normalisation of relations with India but the latter’s “unilateral and illegal” actions pertaining to held Kashmir on August 5, 2019, had violated international law, United Nations resolutions and bilateral agreements.

Hence, he stated, it was Pakistan’s “principled position” that the status quo of August 4, 2019, was withdrawn as India’s actions had “really undermined the environment and now the onus is on India that they create the conducive environment in which talks can be held”.

Bilawal said there was a “trust deficit” ever since India violated previous agreements, asserting that there could be no change in the policy on diplomatic relations with India till the latter reverted to Kashmir’s position on August 4, 2019.

In response to a question on India’s decision to host G20 meetings in occupied Kashmir, he said: “Obviously we condemn it and at the time we will give such a response that it will be remembered.”

He said holding the meetings in the disputed territory showed India’s “pettiness” and was “a show of arrogance to the world that to hell with international law, UNSC resolutions and bilateral agreements, India will hold its events in Kashmir”.

FM Bilawal added that India would soon find that “they will be unable to achieve 110 per cent attendance because other people will not compromise on their morals”.

At the same time, the foreign minister also said that the two countries could not be held hostage by history.

“In our heart of hearts, most Pakistanis … and most Indians … want us to live in peace and peace is our destiny,” he said. “God willing, what could not happen in the past, our generation will not be held by history but we will create our own history.”

The foreign minister said that India and its media’s interest in his visit to Goa reflected an interest in Pakistan, reiterating that both nations desired peace, improvement in ties and mutual progress in the subcontinent.

The foreign minister hoped that when Pakistan chairs the CSO in 2026, India would take a good step to participate in the summit on the basis of “reciprocal diplomatic agreements”.

I believe the Indian foreign minister would be met with an equivalent amount of interest from the Pakistani media and people, he added.

Moreover, Bilawal Bhutto on Twitter said that he will address a press conference tonight upon his arrival back in Pakistan. “Tomorrow the FMs of China and Afghanistan will be visiting Pakistan where we will engage in bilateral meetings, followed by a trilateral meeting between our three countries,” the finance minister added.