
In a congratulatory letter to his counterpart, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi Friday wrote to the recently-appointed External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and urged that Islamabad and Delhi must engage in talks on “all important matters”, PTI reported. Qureshi asserted that Pakistan is committed to efforts for establishing peace in the region.
“Islamabad wants talks with New Delhi on all important matters and remains committed to efforts for establishing peace in the region,” Qureshi told Jaishankar, the Express Tribune reported quoting diplomatic sources.
The relations between India and Pakistan have nosedived ever since the Pulwama terror attack and the subsequent Balakot strikes in February.
Breaking the ice in bilateral relations, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone expressing his desire to work together to ensure peace and prosperity in the region. Khan had also sent a congratulatory message to Modi on his re-election via a twitter post on May 23.
While PM Modi called for creating trust and an environment free of violence, he also asserted that his government had zero tolerance policy towards terrorism. India had rejected Pakistan’s offer of talks, maintaining that terror and talks cannot go together.
On Thursday, Indian foreign ministry said there would be no meeting between the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan in Bishkek next week on the sidelines of the SCO Summit.