NEW DELHI: India on Tues day said that it was ready for a “serious” dialogue with Pakistan on all issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, but pointed out that the road to “peaceful cooperation” cannot go through New York.
On Sunday, as part of its strategy to internationalise the firing, Pakistan Foreign Affairs and National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz had written to UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon seeking the world body’s intervention in the “deliberate and unprovoked violation of the ceasefire agreement and cross-border firing”.
“We are willing for a serious dialogue in this (Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration) framework and this dialogue will cover all outstanding issues including issues of Jammu and Kashmir,” said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin.
“It seems from what Pakistan is doing it is not interested in this sort of a dialogue,” the MEA spokesperson said on the the letter. “It is a well-known tactic. It hasn’t worked earlier and it will not work now.”
Dismissing any possibility of third-party intervention, he noted, “The road to a peaceful and cooperative relationship between India and Pakistan runs from Islamabad via Lahore to New Delhi”. “If you divert that road through New York or elsewhere, it will not serve any purpose... And will be diversionary tactics,” he said. India again put the onus on Islamabad to end the crisis. “It is up to Pakistan to de-escalate the situation,” reiterated Akbaruddin.