‘For the sake of peace’: After Operation Sindoor, Pakistan changes tune, calls for dialogue with India

Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif (File photograph)

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday repeated his name to carry talks with India, urging each nations to sit down down “for peace” and resolve long-standing points, together with Kashmir, water sharing, and terrorism. While India after Operation Sindoor has made it clear to Pakistan, that talks will solely happen on the matter of PoK.His remarks got here throughout the Pakistan-Turkiye-Azerbaijan Trilateral Summit in Lachin, Azerbaijan, the place he was joined by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.This was Sharif’s second name for dialogue in per week. On Monday, whereas in Tehran, he expressed an analogous willingness to have interaction with India “to resolve all disputes.”“We must sit together and talk for the sake of peace… There are issues that demand immediate attention and must be addressed through dialogue,” Sharif stated, based on Dawn. He added, “I have said in all humility that we want peace in the region[…] and that requires talks on the table on issues which need urgent attention and amicable resolution, that is the issue of Kashmir according to the resolutions of the United Nations and the Security Council and as per the aspirations of the people of Kashmir.”Sharif additionally expressed openness to discussing counterterrorism with India, saying, “I have said in all earnest that if India wants to talk on countering terrorism in sincerity of purpose, Pakistan would be willing to talk to India on this issue as well.” He additional said his need to renew commerce ties, and criticised India’s resolution to droop the Indus Water Treaty, calling it a significant useful resource for Pakistan’s ingesting and agricultural wants.However, India has made its stance unequivocally clear: talks with Pakistan will solely give attention to two points, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and terrorism.Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his first assertion following Operation Sindoor, stated: “Today, I would also like to tell the global community that our stated policy has been: if there are talks with Pakistan, it will be only on terrorism; and if there are talks with Pakistan, it will be only on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).”Tensions between the two international locations have intensified since the April 22 terrorist assault in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which left 26 lifeless. In retaliation, India launched Operation Sindoor, a coordinated navy marketing campaign that started on May 7, focusing on 9 terror launchpads in Pakistan and PoK. The Indian Air Force additionally destroyed 11 Pakistani airbases in response to Pakistan’s failed makes an attempt to strike Indian navy positions on May 8, 9, and 10.The battle de-escalated after either side agreed to halt navy actions following a gathering between their administrators basic of navy operations on May 10.