Indian cold start doctrine futile: Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Thursday said in the Senate a stable and peaceful neighborhood is Pakistan’s requirement in order to improve its socio-economic conditions, being a need of India as well.

The minister emphasised India must realise the high price Pakistan had paid in fighting the war against terrorism, pointing out that no other nation had sacrificed 75,000 people in this war, besides suffering losses of billions of rupees. He said Indian doctrine of cold start will prove to be a stupidity and any accidental collision will be suicidal.

He said all credit goes to people and armed forces of Pakistan who have exhibited their resilience to defeat the menace to a large extent.

The deteriorating situation in Indian Held Kashmir, he pointed out, was unprecedented in recent past with Indian forces unleashing repression and atrocities on Kashmiris. He said Pakistan had played its due part for the recently concluded talks between the Untied States and Taliban by bringing all the stakeholders and regional powers on board to find a political solution to the Afghan conflict.

Giving an update to the Senate on recent developments in relation to a calling attention notice by ex-chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, he said it was because of Pakistan’s efforts, China and the US were closer on the Afghan issue and so were Qatar and Iran to Saudi Arabia on the Yemeni conflict.

The minister described the latest round of dialogue between the US and the Taliban as good development, saying that the meetings went well. However, he said that there were things that could be shared with the parliament and some things that could not be shared in the larger national interest.

He said that Pakistan was being criticised for pursuing the policy of finding a peaceful solution to the Afghan conflict through political dialogue. “Now our stance has been acknowledged…But this development did not happen overnight. There was quiet diplomacy behind the development. The meetings that were held in UAE went well. Keep praying for peace. Keep praying for families that have been suffering since long…there has been a good development,” he remarked.

Despite diplomatic tension between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, he said that they were taken on board and their representatives and those from UAE were also present in the meetings. He said that Qatar and Saudi Arabia were not ready to sit together, but they were brought together on this issue.