Amid attempts by key Gulf nations to bring India and Pakistan to the negotiating table, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the people of his country desired peaceful cooperative relations with all countries, including India.
“We are convinced that durable peace in South Asia is contingent upon resolving all issues between India and Pakistan, particularly the Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” he said in the letter sent in response to the message received by him from Modi last week on the occasion of ‘Pakistan Day’.
Khan is believed to have stated that the creation of an enabling environment was imperative for a constructive and result-oriented dialogue between the two countries. He also conveyed to Modi his best wishes for the people of India in the fight against Covid-19.
In his letter sent on 22 March, Modi had stated that India desired “cordial relations” with Pakistan in an environment “devoid of terror”.
The exchange of letters between the two Prime Ministers follows efforts being made by Saudi Arabia and the UAE to bring down the temperature between the two South Asian neighbours and persuade them to resume the stalled dialogue after more than two years of heightened tensions in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack and the Balakot airstrikes.
But in February, the two countries agreed to abide by the 2003 ceasefire agreement at the LoC in letter and spirit. They also last week concluded water-sharing talks in New Delhi on a positive note.
However, the much-anticipated meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries on the sidelines of the ‘Heart of Asia’ conference on Afghanistan in the Tajikistan capital of Dushanbe did not fructify today.