External affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said, however, on Tuesday that decisions and announcements of this kind were not made so far in advance, when asked about the possibility of the PM visiting Pakistan. However, the Indian officials feel that Bambawale’s comments on Pakistan’s interference in Kashmir which was India’s internal matter “rattled the Pakistani authorities here, prompting a cancellation”.
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He admitted that trust and confidence was lacking in relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Bambawale said that it was India’s desire to see a Pakistan which was moderate, prosperous and stable and at peace with itself, its neighbours as well as the rest of the world.
India-Pakistan ties have soured in recent weeks after Indian security forces killed Burhan Wani, who was identified as a militant of the Hizbul Mujahideen group in Kashmir.
While delivering his keynote address at the Karachi Council on Foreign Relations, Bambawale responded to a question about the Kashmir unrest and said that both India and Pakistan have issues.
He said India had taken a stand in the 1960s and 70s that New Delhi and Beijing must talk on the boundary problem before moving on to other issues. “Today, in this situation, the cream of the country, members of the Parliament, came to you (as part of all-party delegation) and many among them said that they want to talk without any conditions”, she said.
The road to normalization of Pakistan-India relations, he said, lay through greater trade and business, the roadmap for which was prepared by the two governments in 2012.
“In the past 24 hours, there has been a lot of news whether Modi ji will visit Pakistan or not”. The total trade between the two countries was worth just Dollars 2.5 billion a year, whereas its potential was of USD 20 billion, he said.
Bambawale pointed out that India had boundary issues with China but chose to build on other relationships and today China is one of India’s biggest trade partners.
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In his meeting with President Xi, Modi expressed concern over terrorism emanating from Pakistan’s restive regions of Giligit-Baltistan and Pakistani Kashmir where the China Pakistan Economic Corridor is coming up. Pakistan also observed a Black Day in solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir and also appointed 22 envoys who have been told sensitise countries about India’s alleged human rights violations in Kashmir.
