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ISLAMABAD: India prefers “politics over peace” and supports terrorism in Pakistan, the latter’s foreign minister told the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Saturday.
Pakistan wants a relationship with India based on equality and mutual respect, and to resolve disputes through serious and comprehensive dialogue that covers all issues of concern, said Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
“We were to meet on the sidelines of this UNGA session to talk about all issues. India called off the dialogue, the third time for the Modi government, each time on flimsy grounds,” Qureshi added.
“Dialogue is the only way to address… issues that have long bedeviled South Asia and prevented the region from realizing its true potential.”
There can be no lasting peace in South Asia without a just settlement of the Kashmir dispute, Qureshi said, adding that Islamabad has shared with the UN evidence of Indian involvement in terrorism in Pakistan.
“We have in our custody a serving Indian naval officer, Commander Kalbhushan Jadhav, who has provided us with the most incriminating evidence by accepting that he, on the instructions of his government, financed, planned and executed acts of terrorism and violence in Pakistan,” Qureshi said.
“This is but one Indian state-sponsored official terrorist. Many more are launched inside Pakistan to create terror and mayhem by our eastern neighbor.”
Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj told the UNGA that her country canceled talks offered by Pakistan’s prime minister following an attack that killed three Indian soldiers. “We are accused of sabotaging the process of talks,” Swaraj said. “This is a complete lie.”
Qureshi said since the stability of South Asia continues to be undermined, “Pakistan has no option but to maintain a minimum credible deterrence.”
He added: “Pakistan is ready to engage with India in meaningful confidence building, risk reduction and avoidance of an arms race.”