Agencies
United Nations
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif criticised India in his address to the UN General Assembly in New York on Friday for withdrawing from planned peace talks last month over the disputed region of Kashmir.
Sharif travelled to India’s capital, New Delhi, in May for the inauguration of Narendra Modi as the country’s prime minister. The visit raised hopes of progress in the six-decade-old dispute, which has resulted in one of the world’s most heavily militarised borders.
Those hopes stalled in August when India announced it was withdrawing from the planned peace talks in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, between the two nuclear-armed neighbours because of plans by Pakistan to consult Kashmiri separatists ahead of the meeting.
“We were disappointed at the cancellation of the foreign secretary-level talks by India,” Sharif told the 193 member countries of the General Assembly. “The world community, too, rightly saw it as another missed opportunity.”
Sharif has made improving relations with India a political priority despite the apparent reluctance of Pakistan’s powerful military and security establishment. Pakistan, he said, wanted to resolve the problem “through negotiations.”
Modi has accused Pakistan of engaging in a “proxy war or terrorism” in Kashmir. The Himalayan region is claimed by both sides but has been divided since a war between the two countries following their partition in 1947.
India says Pakistan supports separatist militants that cross the Line of Control - which divides Kashmir into India- and Pakistan-controlled regions - from the Pakistan side to attack Indian forces. Pakistan says India’s military is abusing the human rights of Muslim Kashmiris.
Meanwhile, US Vice-President Joe Biden said yesterday that his country was not involved in a “zero-sum game” with Pakistan but in a long-term, multi-purpose relationship.
After brief remarks to the media, Biden and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had two sets of meeting. In the first, half-an-hour meeting, they were helped by their senior aides. Then they also had a one-to-one meeting as the aides came out.
Talking to reporters, Biden said the United States also appreciated Pakistan’s contribution to the UN peace-keeping forces.
Biden chaired a peace-keeping summit meeting at the UN on Thursday, which Sharif also attended.
“We made real progress and Pakistan showed leadership, which it always has on peace- keeping,” Biden said.
He noted that the US and Pakistan were close allies who shared “enormous mutual interest”.
The two countries were “striving together to combat terrorism, to provide for prosperity for people, expand trade opportunities and access to education,” he said. “There is a great deal that our countries can do together, bilaterally and international.” The US, he said, had a great interest in Pakistan’s success.
“This is not one of those things of a zero-sum game. The better you do, the happier we are. The better you do, the more better-off the United States is,” he said.
Biden also conveyed the Obama administration’s support for the elected government in Pakistan, saying PM Sharif’s success as a democratically elected leader of Pakistan was “very, very important”.
The Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Dan Feldman, Special Adviser to the PM on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Jalil Abbas Jilani attended the first meeting.
Biden and Prime Minister Sharif were seated next to each other, smiling broadly.
Sharif also spoke briefly to the media, saying that he had a very constructive meeting with Biden when he visited Washington last year.
“The bilateral relations have improved further. I am looking forward to constructive talks again today,” he said.
Noting that there were a lot of developments taking place all over the world, Sharif said there was a need to exchange views on different subjects and how “we can evolve policies on these issues”. Page 23
