India to keep on opposing CPEC: Dr Raghavan

ISLAMABAD: Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Dr TCA Raghavan has said that India will continue to oppose the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) since it passes through part of Kashmir on which India disputes Pakistan’s claim.
“India is always prepared to discuss the Kashmir issue with Pakistan from that point of view,” he said this while talking to the media after Iftar/dinner that he hosted in a local hotel on Wednesday.
He said that the meeting between prime ministers of Pakistan and India in the Russian city Ufa would help in improving the atmosphere between the two countries. He reminded that the joint statement issued at the end of the meeting talked of collective responsibility of the two countries to overcome the irritants coming in the way of improvement of ties.
To a query, the high commissioner expressed his ignorance about the shooting down of an Indian spy drone earlier in the day in Bhimber sector but claimed that three civilians were killed in occupied Kashmir as a result of violation of the LoC by Pakistan. To another question, he made it clear that he had no clue about the Kashmir dispute figured in the talks or not that took place between the two prime ministers in Ufa.
The Iftar/dinner was attended by diplomats and political leaders belonging to various political parties in a large number. Secretary General Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and parliamentary leader of the PML-N in Senate Senator Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, former IB chief Bashir Khan Baish, ANP Leader Haji Muhammad Adeel, PTI leader Ishaq Khan Khakwani, former foreign secretary Riaz Khokhar, Shahid Malik, Begum Salma Ahmed, Rauf Alam and Professor Dr Javed Ikram Malik, Vice Chancellor ZABS Medical University were among the guests. The guest kept discussing the outcome of the Ufa meeting and Pakistan joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). They were of the view that omission of Kashmir issue in the joint statement of the two prime ministers meeting would keep haunting the team of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif dealing with the foreign affairs