Islamabad: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday reiterated his country’s willingness to resolve all outstanding issues, including Kashmir, through dialogue with India, while reaffirming Pakistan’s “unwavering” support for the Kashmiri people.
Addressing a special session of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) Legislative Assembly in Muzaffarabad on the occasion of “Kashmir Solidarity Day,” Sharif called for diplomatic engagement between the two neighbouring nations.
“We want all issues, including Kashmir, to be resolved through talks,” Sharif said. He urged India to move beyond the developments of August 5, 2019, when Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was revoked, stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and reorganising it into two Union Territories.
Sharif referenced the Lahore Declaration of 1999, signed during former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to Pakistan, as a blueprint for peaceful negotiations between the two nations.
India, however, has maintained that normal bilateral relations can only be pursued in an atmosphere free of terrorism, hostility, and violence. New Delhi has also reiterated that Jammu and Kashmir, along with Ladakh, remain integral parts of India and that the abrogation of Article 370 was an internal matter. Relations between the two countries have been strained since the constitutional change.