Dubai: The Pakistani foreign minister on Sunday rebutted reports on backdoor diplomacy with arch-rival India, saying Islamabad is ready for talks if New Delhi reverses its August 2019 decision of scrapping the longstanding special status of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region.
“I want to make it clear that there is no official back-channel diplomacy with India,” Shah Mahmood Qureshi told a press conference in Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Arab Emirates (UAE). He is in the Gulf state on a three-day visit.
“What’s the need for backdoor diplomacy? Come to the table and talk about Kashmir, Sir Creek, and water issues,” he said, referring to a slew of land, sea and water disputes between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
His remarks came days after Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to the US, confirmed that Abu Dhabi is mediating between New Delhi and Islamabad to help them reach a “healthy and functional” relationship.
Addressing a virtual session with Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, Otaiba said his country had a role behind the recent cease-fire at the Line of Control (LoC), the de-facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, which could get relations back to a “healthy level.”
Meanwhile, the coinciding visits of Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers to the Gulf state sparked speculations about a secret meeting between the two. The two sides, nonetheless, denied any scheduled interaction.
Senior Pakistani and Indian intelligence officials, according to local and international media reports, held a series of secret meetings in Dubai in January this year in an attempt to stem the escalating tensions.
Last month, the two militaries agreed to honor the 2003 cease-fire along the LoC, followed by an exchange of letters between the two premiers, which was widely viewed as an outcome of the backdoor diplomacy. AFP
