(HT)
India is willing to hold talks with Pakistan only on the issue of terror and the Indus Waters Treaty will remain in abeyance until cross-border terrorism by Pakistan is “irrevocably stopped”, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday.
The only issue related to Jammu and Kashmir that New Delhi is willing to discuss with Islamabad is the vacation of the parts of the region illegally occupied by Pakistan, Jaishankar said on the margins of an event to inaugurate the new embassy of Honduras.
“I think the Prime Minister made it very clear that the only talks with Pakistan will be on terror, that Pakistan has a list of terrorists who need to be handed over, they have to shut down the terrorist infrastructure,” he said. “They know what to do. We are prepared to discuss with them what is to be done on terrorism. Those are the talks which are feasible.”
Jaishankar pointed out that the Cabinet Committee on Security and the government were very clear that the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 “will continue to be held in abeyance until cross-border terrorism by Pakistan is credibly and irrevocably stopped”.
He also made it clear that the “only thing which remains to be discussed on Kashmir is the vacation of illegally occupied Indian territory in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir”. He added, “We are open to discussing that with Pakistan…The government’s position is very, very clear.”
Jaishankar’s remarks came a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered to hold talks with India on a range of issues, including Kashmir and the Indus Waters Treaty.
In an apparent reference to offers of mediation on the Kashmir issue by US President Donald Trump, Jaishankar said that India’s relations and dealings with Pakistan “will be bilateral and strictly bilateral”. This has been the national consensus for many years and “there is absolutely no change in that consensus that dealings with Pakistan will be bilateral”, he said.
