ISLAMABAD
\nFormer foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that while trade between Pakistan and India makes \u201ceconomic sense\u201d, it cannot be viewed in isolation.
\nQureshi made the remarks in an interview with Times of India published on Thursday. The PTI leader\u2019s remarks come as his successor, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, is in Goa to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Foreign Ministers \u2014 the first visit to India by a Pakistani foreign minister in over a decade.
\nIn the interview, Qureshi touched upon several aspects of Pak-India ties.
\nAsked about reports suggesting he was not keen on resuming trade with India, Qureshi said, \u201cYou see, the point is, I do see the benefits of trade between the two countries. It makes a lot of economic sense but it can\u2019t be seen in isolation.
\n\u201cIt has to go in tandem with other things \u2026 but only trade [is] not enough. That\u2019s all I\u2019m saying. Trade can help improve relations, but trade in itself will not be enough.\u201d
\nCommenting on Bilawal\u2019s visit to Goa, the PTI leader made it clear that his party was not opposing the exercise and understood that this was a \u201cmultilateral obligation\u201d.
\n\u201cAs a former foreign minister, who has been to such conclaves, this is an important visit. And by all means [he] should go ahead.\u201d
\nAt the same time, he said that it \u201cmight be useful\u201d if there was a meeting on the sidelines to examine Pak-India ties.
\n\u201cOur diplomatic relations were downgraded after the Pulwama incident and the Balakot misadventure,\u201d he said, referring to when the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had shot down two Indian planes that had violated Pakistani airspace in 2019.
\n\u201cWe have no trade and cultural ties at the moment and are looking for neutral venues for cricket matches. My party and I desire peace with India,\u201d the ex-foreign minister said.
\n\u201cHow can we have good neighbourly relations and peace unless we have a dialogue? We need to recognise that we do have outstanding issues. We can\u2019t wish them away. We have to address them,\u201d he said, adding that the most civilised way of doing so was through dialogue.
\n\u201cDoctrines like hot pursuit are mutually suicidal. In my view, we do not have a military solution to our issues, but they have to be resolved politically. They have to be resolved through dialogue.\u201d
\nQureshi went on to say that Bilawal had a \u201creal opportunity\u201d to raise issues that were relevant. \u201cI hope he\u2019s not shy of raising human rights issue[s], of raising the treatment minorities are getting, particularly Muslims. I hope he is not shy of raising the issue of water, which is becoming increasingly challenging between the two countries.\u201d
\nHe went on to say that while the SCO was a multilateral forum where bilateral issues cannot be raised, \u201cwhat I\u2019m saying is that on the sidelines \u2026 he should not miss that opportunity.\u201d
\nAt one point in the interview, when the interviewer alleged that the suicide bomber involved in the Pulwama attack in 2019 came from Pakistan, Qureshi noted that \u201cPakistan bashing\u201d was very popular in India.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s your point of view. There is a different point of view and that point of view is that it was a self-created, orchestrated incident for political reasons,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cI think India has to come out of this groove that we will not sit until and unless Pakistan gives up terrorism. Pakistan has fought terrorism, Pakistan is in the process of defeating extremism and terrorism. As I said, we have suffered. So let\u2019s not pick that as an excuse and let things simmer.\u201d
\nQureshi was also asked about whether there were any backchannel talks during his stint as foreign minister.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think there was a formal backchannel. But yes, as it happens, intelligence chiefs stay in touch.\u201d
\nAsked whether there was an opportunity for Pakistan and India to discuss their issues as well as held Kashmir on the sidelines of the SCO meeting, Qureshi said, \u201cSome steps taken by the BJP government on August 5, 2019 were unilateral and many Kashmiris within India are not happy with the situation.\u201d
\nOn August 5, 2019, India had revoked the special status of occupied Kashmir and stripped Kashmiris of the semi-autonomy they had for seven decades through a rushed presidential order.
\n\u201cI know there are no quick fixes. I do understand it\u2019s not going to be easy, but there can be some movement. The region needs peace and stability.\u201d
\nQureshi said that the abrogation of Article 370 was an \u201cinternationally recognised dispute\u201d that cannot be brushed aside as India\u2019s internal matter.
\n\u201cLet\u2019s call a spade a spade and recognise that there is an issue. By calling it an internal issue, I don\u2019t think you\u2019ll be able to resolve the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that while trade between Pakistan and India makes \u201ceconomic sense\u201d, it cannot be viewed in isolation. Qureshi made the remarks in an interview with Times of India published on Thursday. The PTI leader\u2019s remarks come as his successor, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, is in Goa to attend a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-329293","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n