Pakistan on Tuesday termed the Government of India’s announcement to initiate dialogue to understand “legitimate aspirations” of people of Jammu & Kashmir as an “insincere and unrealistic” measure as any meaningful dialogue must include three parties to the Kashmir conflict i.e. Kashmiris, India and Pakistan.
The remarks came after government of India on Monday named a former Intelligence Bureau chief Deneshwar Sharma as its interlocutor to “initiate and carry forward a dialogue with elected representatives, various organisations and concerned individuals in Jammu and Kashmir”, reports said on Tuesday.
Responding to a question regarding the Government of India’s announcement designating Sharma as GoI’s representative to initiate “interaction and dialogue to understand legitimate aspirations of people in J & K”, the Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakria stated that the measure “did not appear to be sincere and realistic”.
The spokesperson, according to Pakistan media reports said that, if anything, the Indian Government’s announcement illustrated a recognition – once again – of the futility of the “use of force and of the indispensability of dialogue”.
However, he added, for any dialogue process to be meaningful and result-oriented, it has to include the three main parties – India, Pakistan, and the Kashmiris.
“In that context, without the participation of the Hurriyat leadership, no interaction or dialogue would carry any weight or meaning,” Zakria said.
The spokesperson further added that the designated Interlocutor had been entrusted with the task of understanding the “legitimate aspirations” of the Kashmiri people – which in reality had been known for 70 years, i.e. realization of their right to self-determination.