Pak urges India to respond to its roadmap positively for meaningful talks

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has urged India to set aside its preconditions and work together with it on the roadmap presented during the foreign secretary level talks in order to make deliberations more meaningful in future.

Addressing a regular briefing here, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said the ball is in New Delhi’s court as it has to respond to Islamabad’s proposal tabled before it on February 25.

“It is obviously for India to respond to our proposal, because the two foreign secretaries can meet again and again and reiterate their respective positions on various subjects, but we cannot expect these open-ended meetings to lead to anything concrete,” The Daily Times quoted Basit, as saying.

“India will not find Pakistan wanting if it agrees to the roadmap given by Islamabad without any preconditions,” he added.

Reiterating Pakistan’s stance of resuming the composite dialogue with India, Basit said it was important that the political leadership of the two countries hold talks.

“That is the crux of our proposal,” he said.

Basit said Pakistan attended the foreign secretary-level talks to gauge if there has been a shift in New Delhi’s position in the context of engagements with Islamabad

Referring to the recent terror attack in Kabul, Basit said Pakistan would never allow its territory to be used for terrorist attacks in Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world.

It may be noted that an Afghan intelligence official had claimed that last week’s terror raid on a guest house in Kabul, in which 17 people, including six Indians, were killed was carried out by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). (ANI)