Pak wants to resolve all outstanding issues with India through talks: Qureshi

Pakistan wants to improve ties with India and resolve all outstanding issues including Kashmir through talks, and is not shy of engaging with New Delhi despite the current impasse in relations, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said.

“But it takes two to tango. You cannot clap with just one hand. We have a positive stance and will remain hopeful,” said Qureshi, who was sworn-in as Pakistan’s foreign minister on Monday.

He also said the “current position of the ties between Pakistan and India was not a secret as peace talks are suspended, but we have to see how we can move forward”.

Ties between India and Pakistan nose-dived in recent years with no bilateral talks taking place, following a spate of terror attacks on Indian military bases by Pakistan-based terror groups since January 2016. India has made it clear that it will not hold dialogue with Islamabad as terrorism and talks cannot go hand-in-hand.

“Pakistan wants to improve ties with India and resolve all outstanding issues, including Kashmir through talks. The government is not shy of engaging with India despite the current impasse in the talks,” Qureshi told reporters on Friday after Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan visited the foreign ministry and was briefed on the country’s foreign policy.

He also mentioned Khan’s July 26 victory speech, in which the former cricketer-turned-politician had said that his government would like leaders of the India and Pakistan to resolve all disputes, including the “core issue” of Kashmir, through talks. Khan had said that if they (India) takes one step towards us, Pakistan will take two steps.