ISLAMABAD: There can be no forward movement unless India takes solid steps to reverse the situation on ground in IIOJK [Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir] and stops sponsorship of terrorism against Pakistan.
This was stated by National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf in his interview to an Indian journalist Karan Thapar on Saturday.
Explaining Pakistan’s position on Kashmir, Dr Yusuf said the government and people of Pakistan would remain committed to the Kashmir cause till such a time when Kashmiris are granted their right to self-determination under the UNSC resolutions.
Elaborating the offer from India to hold talks, Dr Yusuf said that Pakistan had clearly communicated to India that it must halt demographic change in IIOJ&K, ensure protection of Kashmiri identity and give Kashmiris their rights before any dialogue or talks can take place.
The national security adviser also provided details of Indian sponsorship of terrorism against Pakistan. He said Pakistan had provided a detailed dossier with evidence on Indian involvement in terrorism inside Pakistan. He provided information on RAW involvement in the Johar Town blast in Lahore last month, saying that evidence of banking transactions, telephone records and cyber attacks revealed direct involvement of India in the attacks.
Dr Yusuf also said that Indian intelligence agencies were deliberately targeting CPEC [China-Pakistan Economic Corridor] and Chinese interests in Pakistan through their terrorist proxies. He said that Pakistan had always stood for peace and Prime Minister Imran Khan had clearly said in Tashkent that his country wanted to have a civilised relationship with India as a neighbour, but the Indian government’s RSS-inspired Hindutva ideology was a stumbling block. He asked why people inside India were comparing Modi to Hitler?
He told the Indian journalist that Pakistan was deeply concerned about India’s rogue behaviour including reports of Indian state-sponsored spying on Pakistani individuals, revealed under the recent Pegasus scandal and the revelation made by the Indian foreign minister that the Modi government had politicised the FATF [Financial Action Task Force] technical process to ensure Pakistan remains in the grey list despite meeting almost all technical criteria.
In response to a question on whether a window of opportunity remained for Pakistan and India to move forward, Dr Yusuf said that Pakistan hoped that the possibility of moving forward remained if the Indian government realised its mistakes in IIOJ&K and took the right steps to reverse the situation on the ground to before August 5, 2019. ‘If India takes such actions and ends terrorism inside Pakistan, then both countries can work towards resolving their core issues which will benefit the common citizens of both countries,’ he said.
He said Pakistan was pursuing a policy of geo-economics and that was why Pakistan wanted peace and stability in Afghanistan. He said Pakistani leadership had spent over 15,000 hours in trying to convince all parties in the Afghan conflict to sit together and find a negotiated inclusive political settlement in Afghanistan for peace and stability, because Pakistan did not want a protracted war in Afghanistan.
The security adviser said that Pakistan was committed to working with all regional countries that wanted peace and stability in Afghanistan. However, alluding to India, he said countries that were spoilers in Afghanistan and did not want peace in the country must desist from their negative actions. Dr Yusuf categorically said that India had turned Afghanistan into a terrorism hub by sponsoring anti-Pakistan terrorist groups and that was unacceptable for Pakistan.