Pakistan urges India to resume peace talks

Lahore: Pakistan has called on India to resume foreign secretary-level talks to resolve all outstanding issues, saying with peace the menace of poverty, illiteracy and injustice in the region can be eradicated.
“Although the Indian Foreign Secretary visited Pakistan on March 3 this year but it was ‘a goodwill gesture’. The formal talks have yet to resume,” Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said.
Aziz made the remarks at a seminar titled ‘Muslim-Sikh Dosti Di Tarjman – Baisakhi (Baisakhi represents Muslim-Sikh friendship)’ here at the Lahore Fort on Saturday evening.
“Pakistan believes in peace in the region and desires to initiate dialogue on all issues with India. If there will be peace, we all can eradicate the menace of poverty, illiteracy and injustice in the region,” he said.
He urged India to resume the process of dialogue as agreed by the two premiers – Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi – during their meeting last year.
India had cancelled foreign secretary-level talks in August last year because the Pakistan High Commissioner in New Delhi held consultations with Kashmiri separatists. (UNI)