Pakistan caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar on Friday predictably raised the Kashmir bogey in his speech at the UN General Assembly. he claimed that the Jammu and Kashmir issue is among the longest-standing items on the UN agenda.
Mr Kakar's remarks came during his address to the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York today.
He said, "Pakistan desires peaceful and productive relations with all our neighbours including India," and added that "Kashmir is the key to peace between Pakistan and India."
India has repeatedly raised its concern over Pakistan's support of cross-border terrorism and has asserted that terror and talks cannot go together.
India has also provided evidence at various international forums of Pakistan's support for Terrorist groups.
Pakistan's caretaker PM however harped on what he called the illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir.
"India has evaded implementation of the security council's resolutions which call for the final disposition of Jammu and Kashmir to be decided by its people through UN-supervised plebiscite. Since August 2019, India has deployed 900,000 troops in illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir to impose the final solution for Kashmir," Mr Kakar claimed.
Following the Indian government's decision in August 2019 to abolish Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcating it into two Union territories- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Pakistan government, then led by Imran Khan, expelled India's ambassador to Islamabad and halted bilateral trade.
India has already made it clear after the Pulwama attack in 2019 that it wants normal bilateral ties with Pakistan, adding that it is incumbent upon them to create a conducive environment free from terrorism and hostilities.
Earlier in August, former Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif had shown his willingness to talk to India.
"With our neighbours, we are prepared to talk to them, provided that the neighbour is serious to talk on serious matters on the table because war is no more an option. Pakistan is a nuclear power, not as an aggressor but for our defence purposes. We had three wars fought in the last 75 years. And what happened is it generates more poverty, unemployment, and lack of resources" PM Sharif had stated.
Following this, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that India wanted neighbourly ties with Pakistan but there should be an atmosphere free from terror and violence for such a relationship.
During a weekly briefing, the MEA spokesperson had said "We have seen reports regarding the comments by the Pakistan PM on this issue. India's clear and consistent position is well known that we desire normal relations with all our neighbouring countries including Pakistan. For this environment free of terror and hostility is imperative."
India will now have the right to reply to Pakistan's speech at the UNGA on Saturday morning and a sharp rejoinder is expected.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
