Altaf Hamid Rao.
MIRPUR (AJK): (Parliament Times) “Pakistan on Tuesday has revealed that India has sent a message expressing a desire for talks but insisted that Kashmiris must be a third party at these talks”, says a report reaching here from across the Line of Control.
An IIOJK-based local News Service (monitoring) quoted Pakistan’s National Security Advisor (NSA) Moeed Yousuf as saying “India has sent a message expressing a desire for talks”, the report said.
“In a maiden interview to Indian media by any Pakistani officials after, what the report maintained “the constitutional amendments in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019”, Yousuf said “We have got a message for a desire for conversation”, but refused to divulge further details. However, he insisted that Kashmiris must be a third party at these talks – a non-starter for the Indian side”, the report said.
Yousuf said “We must sit down like adults”. He said there are two issues, Kashmir and terror, and added “I want to talk about both”. He said Pakistan “stands for peace and we want to move forward”, according to the KNS report pouring in from across the LoC.
However, in the interview Yusuf repeatedly seemed to suggest that Kashmiris would have to be a third party in the talks and second, that another two pre-conditions were that India must reverse the military siege in IIOJK and roll back the new domicile law in the internationally-acknowledged disputed Indian Illegally occupied Jammu & Kashmir, according to the report.