Shimla: Asserting that the doors of diplomacy are never closed, Pakistan’s High Commissioner Abdul Basit on Thursday said it is time to commence the dialogue process between the two Asian neighbours.
Basit, however, refraining from giving a fixed date for beginning the dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad.
“I think we do have problems and we do understand that. And in order to overcome those problems, we need to talk to each other. And as agreed between both countries in December last year, it is time to commence the dialogue process,” Basit told ANI.
Basit further said there is always a hope for bilateral talks between India and Pakistan.
“Let us hope for good times to come here. The doors are always open, in diplomacy the doors are never closed they are always open,” he added.
When asked as to what can be expected in the near future with regard to the talks, Basit candidly said expect good things to happen in near future for a change.
“I don’t know about the meeting. So, let’s wait as we don’t have any date for a dialogue to begin, but we hope that it would come sooner or later,” he added.
Last time, the two sides had met on the sidelines of the ‘Heart of Asia-Istanbul process’ conference, after which Basit said ‘all outstanding issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute’ were discussed during the meeting between Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhary and his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar. (ANI)