Indian Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar was willing to attend talks on the invitation of his Pakistani counterpart, the sources said, stressing that cross-border terrorism was central to the situation in Jammu and Kashmir state. “Such access would enable us to provide an independent and fact-based analysis of the situation, which is so crucial in volatile, politically-charged situations”, Zeid said.
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In response to a Pakistani proposal for exclusive talks on the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir, India said on Wednesday that there was nothing to discuss with Islamabad except cross-border terrorism.
Hardening its stance on resuming dialogue with Pakistan, India Thursday announced it had set a five-point agenda for talks on terrorism in a letter submitted a day earlier by Indian envoy Gautam Bambawale to the Pakistan Foreign Ministry.
Today, Swarup said that the ball is now in Pakistan’s court.
Jaishankar conveyed to Chaudhry that the discussion must include cessation of cross-border terrorism by Pakistan and ending incitement to violence in the Valley.
“If India does it (by raising the Balochistan issue) then its humanity and morally right”, Kumar said.
Swarup added, “We need to understand the context in which the Prime minister made the statement on Balochistan”.
Interestingly, Pakistan, which has been constantly seeking United Nations intervention in Jammu &Kashmir, has rejected an offer by UN Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein to access POK to investigate allegations of human rights violence on its side.
“With India to be subjected to its Universal Periodic Review by the UN Human Rights Council in 2017, pressure must be mounted on Government of India to immediately allow the intervention of the UN human rights bodies”.
Pakistan said it would welcome any team of human rights observers sent by the United Nations to the part of Kashmir under its control.
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The invitation came close on the heels of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech on Independence Day, when he brought up the subject of State repression in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. Zakaria also claimed that India was referring to Balochistan to cover up its human rights violations in Kashmir. “For us the main issue at this time is to stop grave human rights violations being committed by Indian forces in Indian Occupied Kashmir”, the official said.
