War not a solution, says Pakistan envoy in New Delhi
Issues should be solved through peaceful means, Basit says
Amid war talks by India after Uri attack, Pakistan’s High Commissioner in New Delhi, Abdul Basit, yesterday ruled out the notion of both countries going to war.
He said: “I strongly believe Pakistan and India do not gain anything from creating hype. War is not a solution, war creates more problems.”
“We can perhaps afford not to talk to each other for some time, but addressing our many bilateral, regional and global challenges can only happen through dialogue,” the high commissioner said in an interview with Telegraph India, an Indian English daily.
He said: “I am not ready to give up on that. We should not allow war hysteria to dominate our narrative.”
He said investigation is ongoing to determine what really happened in Uri, so it was important not to draw premature conclusions. “It is not helpful to jump the gun,” he said.
He said Pakistan had extended all-out cooperation after the Pathankot incident and things were moving in the right direction. Both the countries could prevent the situation from worsening, if that spirit was maintained.
“I am a diplomat and I would like diplomacy to win. I, for once, would not like to believe that bilateral diplomacy has exhausted itself.”
Basit recalled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s remarks at UN General Assembly that Pakistan desired to have a normal, cooperative relationship with India and resolve all problems peacefully. He said Pakistan believed that issues should be resolved only through peaceful means and there is no other way.
To a question, he made it clear that Pakistan had nothing to do with the Uri attack as it was committed to not allowing its territory to be used for violence anywhere in the world.