Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday called for a “sober reflection” on the future of Islamabad’s strained ties with New Delhi, a day after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his newly elected ministers took oath as lawmakers.
Modi and members of his Council of Ministers took oath as members of the lower house of India’s parliament during its first session on Monday. Relations between India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed neighbors who have fought three wars, remain strained since August 2019 when India stripped the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region of its autonomy.
India and Pakistan claim the Himalayan region in full but administer only parts of it. Both have fought two wars over the disputed territory since gaining independence from British colonial India in 1947.
Pakistan downgraded ties with New Delhi after it stripped Kashmir of its autonomy in 2019 and suspended trade with its neighbor. Islamabad has ruled out normalizing ties with India unless it revokes its controversial decision, which India has refused to do so.
“In our view, as the BJP-led NDA government starts a new term, it is time for a sober reflection on the future of India-Pakistan relations and the cross-cutting issues affecting the entire region,” Dar said during an event in Islamabad.
The deputy prime minister said Pakistan’s relationship with India had historically remained troubled. However, he said Islamabad does not believe in perpetual hostility.
“We seek good neighborly relations with India based on mutual respect, sovereign equality and a just and peaceful resolution of the long-standing Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” he said.
While Pakistan has always been receptive to constructive engagement via dialogue to resolve outstanding issues, Dar said Islamabad would never agree to India’s “unilateral approaches” or attempts to impose its hegemony in the region.
