ISLAMABAD: Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Monday said that Pakistan wanted to have peaceful relations with India but it would not back down from its principled stance over Kashmir.
“If there have to be an improvement in relations between Pakistan and India, there have to be a dialogue on all issues including the core issue of Jammu Kashmir,” he said while briefing editors of newspapers and TV anchors on the entire gamut of foreign policy and Pakistan’s strategy to address emerging challenges in terms of its relations to its neighbours and other countries.
Sartaj said that Pakistan did not want to escalate tension with India and its minimum objective was to avoid further tension with its neighbour. Questioned on Indian quest to become member of the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), he said that it was not acceptable to Pakistan that India should become its member despite being a non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation (NPT).
Therefore, Pakistan had emphasised that a criteria-based approach should be followed as both Pakistan and India had not signed NPT hence if India was to become NSG member, Pakistan should also be given this opportunity, he said. Secondly, if India alone was given membership it would undermine the strategic stability in the region and many countries were convinced of this argument advanced by Pakistan, he said.
It was not only China and Turkey but many other countries like Brazil, Austria, Kazakhstan, Norway and Switzerland which supported Pakistan’s stance at the elite nuclear club, he mentioned. However, the adviser said that the issue of NSG membership had not gone away hence Pakistan was working out a post-Seoul strategy on it. “We will continue our diplomatic offensive in this regard,” he said.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi and Foreign Affairs Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry were also present on the occasion.
