Pakistan is “ready but not desperate” to engage in dialogue with arch-rival India, the foreign minister said Wednesday, highlighting the ongoing chill in ties between the nuclear-armed neighbours following their most severe military confrontation in decades.
Both sides used fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery last month in four days of clashes, their worst fighting in decades, before a ceasefire the U.S. said it brokered on May 10. India has denied any third-party role in the ceasefire.
“Whenever they ask for a dialogue, at whatever level, we are ready but we are not desperate,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told a news conference in Islamabad.
Recent Tensions
The spark for the fighting was an April 22 terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 people, all men and mostly Hindu tourists.
New Delhi alleged that the terrorists involved in the attack were backed by Pakistan, a charge denied by Islamabad.
Dar said Pakistan wanted a comprehensive dialogue on a range of issues, including water, whereas India wanted to focus only on terrorism.
“That’s not on. Nobody else is more serious than us. It takes two to tango,” he said, referring to comments by Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar that the talks should only cover the issue of terrorism.
The Indian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Dar’s remarks.
New Delhi has previously said the only matter left to discuss with Pakistan was the vacating of what India describes as Pakistani-occupied territory in Kashmir (PoK).
Kashmir is a disputed Himalayan region that both nations claim in full but rule in part.
Pakistan is keen to discuss water rights after India held “in abeyance” the Indus Waters Treaty following the April 22 attack. The treaty guarantees water for 80% of Pakistan’s farms from three rivers that flow from India.
(With inputs from Reuters)
