Lahore: Pakistan has expressed disappointment over the ”inordinate delay” in the resumption of foreign secretaries-level talks with India and urged New Delhi to start the dialogue for resolving various issues so as to create peace in the region.
”Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after 2013 general elections had announced an economic and social development road map for the country through developing good relations with the neighbours, including India. Under this policy, Premier Nawaz Sharif went to India and took part in the oath-taking ceremony of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
”During their meeting on May 27 last year both premiers agreed to resume talks at foreign-secretaries level. And on August 25, India conveyed us about sending its foreign secretary to Islamabad in this regard,” Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz noted on Saturday at a seminar titled Muslim-Sikh Dosti Di Tarjman — Baisakhi (Besakhi represents Muslim-Sikh friendship).
He said Islamabad was surprised when India cancelled the talks on its own without consulting Pakistan. He said though new Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar visited Pakistan on March 3 this year as a goodwill gesture, formal talks were yet to resume.
Mr Aziz said Pakistan believed in peace in the region and desired to initiate dialogues on all issues with India and other countries. ”If there will be peace, we all can eradicate the menace of poverty, illiteracy and injustice in the region,” he said, urging India to resume the process of dialogue as agreed by the two Prime Ministers.
He said Article 20 of the Pakistan Constitution empowered every citizen to follow and preach his/her religion by worshiping in mosque, church or temple. Under this, he said, the minorities were given various rights related to their routine business, including jobs, representation in Parliament or provincial assemblies and worship.
So expanding this scope of work, the Evacuee Trust Property Board and other departments concerned were making efforts to safeguard and renovate the minorities’ worship places, including gurdwaras and temples. ”Now every Sikh or Hindu knows well that Pakistan is doing a lot for them. And the Baisakhi, I will say it represents an unending friendship between Sikhs and Muslims,” Mr Aziz said. (UNI)
