Tension with India, political instability mark Pak’s 2017   

Islamabad : India-Pakistan ties nose-dived in 2017 with no bilateral talks talking place and both sides putting it on the back-burner even as the political situation in the country remained fragile with the ouster of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the Panama Papers scandal.

The ties between the two countries had strained after the terror attacks by Pakistan-based groups in 2016 and India’s surgical strikes inside PoK.

The sentencing of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav to death in April further deteriorated ties. Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal claimed that Pakistan is all for resumption of dialogue but India has been running away on one pretext or another. “Indian stubbornness is the main reason that we are unable to resume talks.

The fault is with India and not with us. We are ready to talk about everything, but they don’t come forward and only hurl allegations,” Faisal told PTI.  The ties strained further after Pak Army special forces team sneaked 250 metres across the Line of Control and beheaded two Indian security personnel in May.

In response, the Indian Army launched “punitive fire assaults” on Pakistani positions across the Line of Control, inflicting “some damage”.

Faisal said Pakistan cannot be blamed for “zero” progress in the bilateral ties in 2017, as it made persistent efforts to improve relations.

“First, India linked talks with the issue of militancy but when we showed readiness to discuss every issue, including terrorism, then they (India) ran away.

Actually, Indian side is not ready to sit across the table,” he alleged.

He said Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif in a letter to his Indian counterpart urged India to maintain peace on the LoC after over 1,300 ceasefire violations killed 54 civilians this year.