No talks with India before curfew in occupied Kashmir is lifted, says FM Qureshi – Pakistan

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Pakistan could hold talks with India on the issue of occupied Kashmir if New Delhi meets certain conditions, including allowing it to meet with Kashmir leaders.

In an exclusive interview with BBC Urdu, the minister said that Pakistan had no objection to bilateral talks with India and would also receive mediation from a third party.

He said the talks could take place if: India lifts the crippling curfew that has been imposed on occupied Kashmir for almost four weeks, restores the rights of local residents, frees all the Kashmir leadership imprisoned and allows it (Qureshi ) meet with the cashmere leadership.

Watch: How India is trying to portray & # 39; calm, normal & # 39; in occupied Kashmir enclosed

But he added as a warning that while Pakistan has never shunned the talks, it did not see a favorable atmosphere for the negotiations on the Indian side considering New Delhi's oppression of the Kashmir people.

"There are three disputes in this conflict: India, Pakistan and Kashmir," Qureshi told BBC. "I think that if India is serious, I should first free the leaders of Kashmir and allow me to meet the Kashmir leadership and hold consultations."

"I will have to evaluate their emotions (from Kashmir leaders). [We] can't come to the table to talk trampling the feelings of the cashmere. "

Examine: Shimla scrapped: the Modi government rejects the very idea of ​​the talks

When ruling out the war, the Foreign Minister stressed that Pakistan never adopted an aggressive policy and always prioritized peace. "(A war) will cause the loss of people and the world will be affected by it, so war is not an option," he said.

He added, however, that the armed forces and the people of Pakistan are ready if the war is "imposed" in Pakistan on February 26 earlier this year.

On August 5, the Indian nationalist government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stripped the cashmere of the special autonomy they had for seven decades through a hasty presidential order. An indefinite curfew was imposed on occupied Kashmir and elected leaders were placed under house arrest. The repression is now on its 27th day.

Pakistan angrily criticized the measures in New Delhi, expelled the Indian ambassador, suspended bilateral trade and took the matter to the United Nations Security Council.

The latest comments from Foreign Minister Qureshi echo those of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who wrote in an opinion piece for The New York Times On Friday, that dialogue with India can only begin when it reverses its "illegal annexation of Kashmir, puts an end to curfew and closure, and withdraws its troops to the barracks."

"With the nuclear shadow over South Asia, we realize that Pakistan and India have to get out of a zero-sum mindset to begin the dialogue on Kashmir, various strategic issues and trade. In Kashmir, the dialogue must include all interested parties, especially cashmere, "wrote the prime minister.

& # 39; The nation should not be sad & # 39;

Qureshi during the interview said it was due to Pakistan's diplomatic efforts that the Kashmir problem had reappeared in the "central stage" of the world after years.

By minimizing the notion that the Gulf countries had not effectively raised their voice for Kashmir, and the awards to the Indian Prime Minister Modi by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, said the minister, although the Gulf nations have relations commercial and bilateral with India, its position on the issue of Kashmir is clear.

He recalled that Arab countries had come to the rescue of Pakistan in the recent past when their economy was under pressure.

"The nation should not forget that Pakistan was about to fall. Did the UAE and Saudi Arabia not come to ask for help at that time?" The minister said, adding that hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis were employed in the two countries that sent their remittances home.

Qureshi said the nation did not need to be sad because the Gulf countries will support Pakistan's position on Kashmir once the facts are clarified. He also revealed that he would convey the feelings and feelings of Pakistanis in his conversation with the UAE Foreign Minister in the near future.