New Delhi: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has written another letter to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, seeking a “consistent policy” for achieving a peaceful neighbourhood, Pakistani diplomatic sources told ThePrint.
The letter comes a week before both leaders are set to visit to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to attend the summit meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on 13-14 June.
According to diplomatic sources, both Pakistani PM Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi wrote letters to their respective counterparts, seeking resumption of the Indo-Pak dialogue that has been stalled since 2017.
“The letters underscored Pakistan’s consistent policy of a peaceful neighbourhood and the vision of working for durable peace and stability in South Asia, with peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues, including the Jammu & Kashmir dispute,” a Pakistani source said.
Sources added that Khan’s letter emphasised the need to work together, on the basis of mutual respect and trust, to address challenges faced by people of both countries, including poverty and underdevelopment.
“The need to advance the goals of regional peace, progress and prosperity through collective endeavours was underscored,” a source said.
India has not responded to any of Pakistan’s letters yet.
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Second attempt
This is Islamabad’s second attempt to resume talks with New Delhi since Prime Minister Modi came back to power with a landslide victory.
Khan was among the first international leaders to congratulate Modi over the phone when he got re-elected last month.
Speculation is that both leaders could have a pull-aside meeting of sorts on the sidelines of the SCO meet. However, the spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Raveesh Kumar, told a media briefing Thursday that “to the best of his knowledge”, no formal meeting has been decided on “as yet”.
“Imran Khan’s letter to PM Modi calls for a comprehensive dialogue, including on Jammu and Kashmir, but does not mention the format, venue and time of the dialogue and does not mention any meeting at SCO,” stated another source.
Earlier this week, Pakistani foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood came on a “personal visit” to India, but sources said his visit was seen as an attempt by Khan’s government to thaw the ice before the leaders met. Mahmood was Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India until April this year.
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