Pakistan’s envoy to India Sohail Mahmood during Pakistan National Day celebrations at Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi on Friday. (PTI)
Pakistan High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood on Friday said his country wanted to sort out “as soon as possible” the issue of alleged harassment of diplomats in the two countries.
Mahmood, who returned to India on Thursday night, a week after he was called to Islamabad for consultations amid the raging row between two countries over alleged harassment of diplomats, asserted that his country desired “peaceful and good-neighbourly” relations with India.
“I discussed this issue with our government. We want to sort out this issue as soon as possible because it affects the relations between the countries,” Mahmood said on the sidelines of an event organised at Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi to mark Pakistan National Day.
India and Pakistan have accused each other of harassing diplomats in Islamabad and New Delhi.
“I do hope that at this pivotal moment, with India and Pakistan at 70, there would be hard reflection on the time lost, and the opportunities missed,” Mahmood said, while addressing the event.
He stressed that building a future different from the past remained indispensable. “We owe it to our next generations. We must give them a future of hope and opportunities. I hope we can prove equal to the task and work purposefully to advance the worthy goals of honourable peace, equal security, and shared prosperity,” he said.
Mahmood said that Pakistan desired peaceful relations with India on the basis of sovereign equality and mutual respect.