ISLAMABAD – Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi says dialogue is the onlyoption to resolve all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan.
Responding to a call attention notice in Senate, the Minister said thePrime Minister immediately after assuming power offered India to come todialogue table in order to remove illiteracy and poverty from the region.He said Pakistan needs peace at both eastern and western fronts.
Referring to the cancelled meeting between foreign ministers of bothcounties on the sidelines of UN General Assembly session in New Yorkearlier this year, he said India had initially agreed on the meeting butlater backtracked due to domestic political compulsions. He said India hadin mind elections in six states of the Union and general elections nextyear.
Foreign Minister said our response was very measured and mature in which wesaid Pakistan is willing to engage when they are ready as engagement is theonly solution to our bilateral outstanding issues.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi said two neighbors, that are also nuclear powers, havebeen acknowledging of their bilateral issues since the last many decades.Dialogues were also held in the past and these were stalled due to variousreasons.
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Regarding the opening of Kartarpur Corridor, he said the gesture byPakistan was made for peace and completing the long-standing demand of Sikhcommunity to visit one their holiest places.
He said the Indian cabinet held a meeting and decided to reciprocate thisgesture and did the groundbreaking a day earlier than Pakistan. They alsosent two of their ministers to attend the ceremony in Pakistan. A group of50 Indian journalists also attended the Kartarpur Corridor ceremony inPakistan.
Foreign Minister said a stable and peaceful neighborhood is our requirementin order to improve our socio-economic conditions. He said India mustrealize the high price Pakistan has paid in fighting the war againstterror. He said no other nation has sacrificed 75,000 people in this war,besides suffering losses of billions of rupees. He said all credit goes topeople and armed forces of Pakistan who have exhibited their resilience.
