Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi have sent congratulatory letters to their Indian counterparts on assuming office.

The letters were sent to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar earlier this week, diplomatic sources revealed on Friday. The letters were handed over to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

The letters underscore Pakistan’s vision of working for durable peace and stability in South Asia with peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

In his letter to Modi, PM Imran Khan once again expressed the desire to step forward for longstanding peace in the region. Congratulating Modi on his second term as the PM of India, Imran Khan wrote that Pakistan desired the resolution of all problems, including that of the disputed Kashmir region.

The premier further added that talks between the two nations were the only solution to help both countries’ people overcome poverty and that it was important to work together for regional development.

“Pakistan wishes for peace in the South Asian region and that alongside stability, are required for the states as well as the region to move forward,” he said. “Respecting each other for regional development is necessary to bring the nationals [of both countries] out of poverty through holding dialogues.”

The PM offered his Indian counterpart to show the willingness for going ahead after resolving all issues for development and stability of the region.

In his letter to his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi congratulated him on becoming the new external affairs minister.

Diplomatic sources said that Qureshi told Jaishankar that Islamabad wanted talks with New Delhi on all important matters and remained committed to efforts for establishing peace in the region.

The letters follow a phone call from PM Khan to Modi, as well as an exchange of tweets between the two leaders after the election results.

Modi had also written a letter to PM Khan ahead of the Pakistan National Day, saying it was “time for the people of the sub-continent to work together for a democratic, peaceful, progressive and prosperous region, in an atmosphere free of terror and violence.”

PM Imran Khan had welcomed the letter, calling for dialogue between the two countries. Immediately after the election win, PM Khan telephoned Modi to congratulate him. sources said the conversation lasted about 15 minutes, and included the need to improve bilateral ties, India’s “neighbourhood first policy” and a desire to “fight poverty jointly”. On June 2, Indian High Commissioner (HC) to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan had held a positive telephonic conversation earlier in the week.

“Both the prime ministers desire for peace and stability in the region”, he had said while addressing an Iftar dinner hosted by Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Earlier in May, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Sushma Swaraj had met briefly on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek. Pakistan had made an exception to the ban on flights to and from India to allow Swaraj’s flight to travel through Pakistani airspace.

They had discussed matters of mutual interest during an informal interaction, the Foreign Office confirmed. “Swaraj complained about bitter statements and she also brought sweets so we can speak in a sweeter tone,” Qureshi had said. “We’ve however reiterated our desire for a peaceful resolution of all outstanding issues between the two countries,” Qureshi had said, recalling that Prime Minister Imran Khan, in his first speech after winning the 2018 elections, had extended an olive branch to the neighbouring country.

However, India’s foreign ministry spokesman Rajeev Kumar said on Thursday that there was no bilateral meeting planned between the prime ministers of India and Pakistan at the SCO next week.

Modi and Prime Minister Imran Khan are both scheduled to attend a meeting of the regional summit in Kyrgyzstan on June 13-14. Raveesh Kumar said there were no requests or plans for the leaders to meet to the best of his “knowledge”. Diplomatic officials in both capitals also declined to confirm the possibility of a one-on-one between the two leaders at the SCO summit in Bishkek on June 13-14.