Pak given a befitting reply

Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif, who had durin

Narendra Modi

g his election campaign spoken repeatedly of improving relations with India, to the shock of everybody in India raked up the Kashmir issue, and the six decade old UN resolution regarding self determination in his address to the United Nations General Assembly. His die-hard anti-India approach reflected in his another statement opposing addition in the number of permanent seats in the Security Council. Prime minister Narendra Modi as a mature statesman cautioned the Pak leader that raising issues in the UN might derail the efforts to resolve them between the two countries. He also made clear his government’s policy of advancing friendship and cooperation with neighbouring countries, asserting that the same policy applies to Pakistan as well. He told ‘he was prepared to engage in a serious bilateral dialogue with Pakistan in peaceful atmosphere, without the shadow of terrorism to promote friendship and cooperation’. He urged that Pakistan must also take its responsibility seriously to create an appropriate atmosphere for dialogue. Nawaz Sharief had blamed India ‘for another missed opportunity’ to address outstanding issues by cancelling the foreign secretary level talk after the Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit’s talk with Kashmiri separatists in Delhi.
The Article was first published in the monthly magazine of political affairs, the ' Lokayat' (October, 2014 issue)