Islamabad, February 12: The Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman says India’s proposed set of preconditions for dialogue is not acceptable.
Abdul Basit told reporters on Thursday that Islamabad has made it clear that talks with India cannot be held on preconditions. The spokesman, however, did not say what the preconditions were.
Islamabad was optimistic that New Delhi would come to the negotiating table to solve all pending issues including Kashmir.
Pakistan would like the process of engagement leading to the resumption of the composite dialogue, Basit said.
However, he confirmed that the foreign ministry had not yet responded to the Indian proposal of secretary-level talks and the Pakistani leadership would have the final say on the matter.
Basit said that dialogue was necessary to establish viable peace in the region. He said Pakistan wanted a result-oriented dialogue with India and hoped that India would not thwart the talks this time.
India offered Pakistan to hold secretary-level talks last Thursday for resolving all contentious issues. The olive branch came after a long pause in dialogue after the Mumbai attacks, in which over 160 people were killed.
——-Agencies