India’s FM says ‘era of uninterrupted dialogue with Pakistan over’

KARACHI: A day after Pakistan confirmed it had formally invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the upcoming SCO meeting, India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar declared that “the era of uninterrupted dialogue with Pakistan is over”.

Speaking at a book launch in Delhi on Friday, the Indian external affairs minister first stated that “uninterrupted dialogue with Pakistan” was no longer possible and then followed that up by saying that “actions have consequences”.

Jaishankar then brought up the issue of Occupied Kashmir, saying: “So far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned, I think [Article] 370 is done.”

Asking “what kind of relationship can we [India] contemplate with Pakistan”, Jaishankar proceeded to answer a suggestion by someone at the event that perhaps India was content to continue at the current pace of things. His response to the suggestion: “maybe yes, maybe no.... What I do want to say is that we are not passive, and whether events take a positive or a negative direction, either way, we will react.”

Meanwhile, on Friday at a meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir held on the sidelines of the 50th Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Cameroon, Foreign Secretary Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi informed the Contact Group about the ongoing situation in Occupied Kashmir. The foreign secretary highlighted India’s efforts to strengthen its control over Occupied Kashmir in violation of UNSC resolutions.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Contact Group has reiterated its support for the Kashmiri people’s pursuit of self-determination and issued a joint statement, unanimously declaring that lasting peace and stability in South Asia depend on resolving the Jammu and Kashmir dispute per UN Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people. Pakistan is set to host the SCO heads of government meeting on October 15-16 in Islamabad.