Srinagar: Seeking UAE’s mediation, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has offered ‘sincere’ talks to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for resolving issues including Kashmir.
“My message to the Indian leadership and Prime Minister Modi is that let us sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning issues like Kashmir,” he told Dubai-based AI Arabiya TV in an interview.
As per reports, Sharif has asked the UAE (United Arab Emirates) to play its role in bringing both India and Pakistan to the negotiating table.
Shahbaz Sharif said that not only does the world need to realize that India and Pakistan are neighbors, but both countries need to understand the importance of co-existing peacefully.
“It is up to us to live peacefully and make progress or quarrel with each other, and waste time and resources,” he said.
“We have three wars with India and it only brought more misery, poverty, and unemployment to the people,” he added.
Sharif further said that Pakistan realises the past and has “learned its lesson”, which is why it now wants to live in peace and resolve bilateral problems through talks.
“We want to alleviate poverty, achieve prosperity and provide education and health facilities and employment to our people and not waste our resources on bombs and ammunition, this is the message I want to give to Prime Minister Modi,” he said.
Sharif also highlighted the threats and fears of the effects of the “strained ties” between India and Pakistan, stating that both countries are nuclear powers and that if the conflict triggers a war, then there will be no one left to live and tell the story.
Sharif has asked the UAE to play a similar role as it acted in connecting both India and Pakistan in the past to re-enforce the Shimla agreement and brought both sides to mutually agree on a ceasefire at the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary (WB).
The UAE played a vital role in arranging important high-level meetings between the top military leadership of both India and Pakistan and played an important role in bringing both parties to agree to the ceasefire.
The Shimla agreement was signed 8 months after the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, which led to the splitting of Pakistan and the consequent creation of Bangladesh.
The accord was signed in Barnes Court (Raj Bhavan) at Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, and stated that the Charter of the UN shall govern relations between India and Pakistan; any differences shall be settled by peaceful means and through bilateral negotiations, both countries shall respect the ‘territorial integrity’ of each other and not interfere in the internal matters of each other, Forces shall be withdrawn to each other’s side of the international border. The ceasefire line of December 17th, 1971 (after the Bangladesh War) shall be respected (and reiterated as the Line of Control).
After the accord, India released 93000 Pakistani prisoners of war (POWs) who were captured after the Bangladesh war and Kashmir became a ‘bilateral’ dispute.
Kashmir is a Himalayan region divided between India, Pakistan, and China.