NEW DELHI: India has said that it is willing to discuss the issue of Jammu and Kashmir with Pakistan within the framework of bilateral agreements of Simla agreement and Lahore Declaration.
“As regards engagement with Pakistan, we have made it very clear that we will engage in the framework of Simla agreement and Lahore Declaration and both these provide for discussing all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir. Our view is very clear, a bilateral framework to discuss all outstanding issues, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir,” the Indian ministry of external affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said on Thursday.
His remarks came in response to a question about the comments by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s advisor on foreign affairs and national security Sartaj Aziz that Islamabad offered talks to New Delhi in “good faith,” but holding a dialogue without addressing the Kashmir issue was unacceptable to Pakistan.
On August 18, the Indian government called off the foreign secretary level talks for August 25 with Pakistan after the Pakistani high commissioner to India Abdul Basit met separatist leaders from Kashmir in New Delhi.
