Bilateral talks with India: Pakistan government takes an important decision

Bilateral talks with India: Pakistan government takes an important decision

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan government has taken important decision over issue of bilateral talks with India.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that there would be no talks with India before general elections in the nuclear-armed country next year.

Speaking to journalists after attending the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs’ meeting here, Qureshi said that talks could be held with India after their general elections.

National polls in India are due be held in April or May 2019. The 543 elected members of the Lok Sabha (the lower house) will be elected from single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting.

India leaders have been giving hostile statements against Pakistan as the polls approach. Commentators believe the new Indian government will be ready to resume talks and the election statements were just for public consumption.

In September, India had refused a possible meeting between Shah Mehmood Qureshi and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.