*ISLAMABAD: Pakistan rejects backdoor diplomatic mediation offers withIndia from friendly countries.*
*Few friendly countries including UAE and Saudi Arabia had approachedPakistan to defuse the tensions with India.*
Pakistan has refused to engage in backdoor diplomacy with India after somepowerful countries as well as certain Muslim states sought de-escalation inthe brewing tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours over Kashmir.
Prime Minister Imran Khan was also requested to tone down his verbalattacks on his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in which he equated himwith Adolf Hitler.
However, Pakistan has turned down the requests and made it clear that itwould only engage with India through quiet or conventional diplomacy afterNew Delhi was persuaded to meet certain conditions, officials privy to thedevelopment told The Express Tribune.
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These conditions include lifting of the curfew and other restrictionsimposed in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), a day before India stripped thedisputed region of its special status on August 5.
When the deputy foreign minister of Saudi Arabia and the foreign ministerof UAE travelled together to Islamabad on September 3, they came with a‘message’ on behalf of their leadership as well as some other powerfulcountries urging Pakistan to engage in backchannel diplomacy with India.
