Pakistan plans to invite India for a dialogue on Kashmir, PM’s adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz has said.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will invite India for a dialogue on the Kashmir issue as New Delhi’s policy of not engaging in talks is not conducive to peace in the region, the country’s foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz said on Friday.

Briefing reporters on an envoys conference held in Islamabad during August 1-3 to discuss Pakistan’s major foreign policy challenges, Aziz also said Pakistan is ready to sign an agreement with India on a bilateral moratorium on nuclear tests.

Aziz’s remarks came two days after India’s home minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament that India is willing to discuss only Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) with Pakistan, and the question of discussing Jammu and Kashmir does not arise.

Aziz, adviser on foreign affairs to the PM, said the envoys conference discussed several diplomatic initiatives and decided Pakistan should invite India for a dialogue on the Kashmir issue. “Our foreign secretary would formally be writing to his counterpart in this regard,” he said.

“As for India, the envoys conference noted that India’s policy of not engaging in a comprehensive dialogue with Pakistan was not conducive for peace in South Asia,” he added. The conference, he said, spent considerable time discussing the “grim situation” in J&K. It also decided that Pakistan should continue to extend full diplomatic, political and moral support to Kashmiris for their right to self-determination.

Referring to Pakistan’s proposal for a bilateral moratorium on nuclear tests, Aziz said: “We have declared a unilateral moratorium on further testing. Pakistan is prepared to consider translating its unilateral moratorium into a bilateral arrangement on non-testing with India.” The conference noted Pakistan had consistently supported the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and voted for it when it was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1996.