Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said in a statement that Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale was called to hand over a letter of invitation for talks.
Continuing the battle of diplomatic one-upmanship, Pakistan on Monday formally invited India for talks on Kashmir, saying it is the international obligation of both the countries to resolve the issue. India has already rejected the proposal, asking for limiting dialogue on "contemporary and relevant issues,", identified as stoppage of Pakistan's support for cross-border terrorism, infiltration of terrorists like Bahadur Ali, incitement to violence and terrorism and also allowing protest marches led by Hafiz Sayeed and Syed Salahudin in Pakistani streets. The External Affairs Ministry has also asked for a sincere follow up on the Mumbai trial and Pathankot attack investigations, as a pre-condition to pave way for a formal dialogue process, in which Kashmir forms one of the eight issues.
Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said in a statement that Indian High Commissioner Gautam Bambawale was called to hand over a letter of invitation for talks. The letter invited Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar to visit Pakistan for talks on Jammu and Kashmir with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry. The letter highlights the international obligation of both the countries, India and Pakistan, to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions.
The invite came days after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh addressed Parliament on the Kashmir issue and said that India was willing to discuss only Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) with Pakistan, and that the question of discussing Jammu and Kashmir with Islamabad just does not arise.
Meanwhile, ratcheting up tensions, Sartaj Aziz, Adviser on Foreign Affairs described Prime Minister Narendra Modi's raking up issues of Balochistan and PoK during his Independence Day speech as attempts to divert world attention from the unrest in Kashmir. He rejected any contrast between the Jammu and Kashmir and PoK. "These events (in Kashmir) have nothing to do with terrorism. It is an indigenous movement for self determination, a right promised to the Kashmiris by the UN Security Council. At this time, the contrast between the Indian Occupied Kashmir and the Azad Jammu and Kashmir could not be more stark," he said.
He also described Modi's reference to Balochistan a proof that India through its main intelligence agency RAW, has been fomenting terrorism in the region. While acknowledging that India was a large country, in fact the second largest in the world, but said it does not automatically make it a great country, especially when it unleashes such brute force against innocent citizens, referring to use of pellet guns. " India should recognize that the core issue of Kashmir cannot be resolved by bullets. It requires a political solution, through serious negotiations between India and Pakistan," Aziz said.
The main Opposition Congress has criticised Modi, for raking up the issue of Balochistan in his Independence Day address. "PoK is our right. Our entitlement. We will support it. But by bringing in Baluchistan, you are ruining our case... We are going to ruin our own case on PoK," Congress leader and former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said. This would give an "additional handle" to Pakistan to target India as "we don't speak about atrocities in neighbouring countries", he told reporters at the Congress headquarters. "I do not know who advised the Prime Minister for raising Balochistan... It will dilute our claim on PoK. It will given additional handle...to interfere in our internal affairs."
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