Islamabad, January 17, 2023 (PPI-OT):The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Tuesday said that talks with India can only take place after New Delhi reverses its “illegal actions of August 5, 2019”, which was aimed at illegally altering the demography of the Muslim-majority state of Indian occupied Kashmir. The PMO said, “Without India’s revocation of this step, negotiations are not possible”. The statement comes a day after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold serious and sincere talks to resolve burning issues, including Kashmir, and said the United Arab Emirates leadership could play an important role in bringing India and Pakistan to the table.

Referring to PM Shehbaz’s Al Arabiya interview on Tuesday, the PMO spokesperson said that the prime minister had consistently maintained that Pakistan and India must resolve their bilateral issues through dialogue and peaceful means. “However, the prime minister has repeatedly stated on record that talks can only take place after India has reversed its illegal action of August 5, 2019. Without India’s revocation of this step, negotiations are not possible.”

The PMO spokesperson said that the settlement of the Kashmir dispute “must be in accordance with the UN resolutions and aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir”. “The prime minister made this position very clear in his interview with Al Arabiya during his recent visit to the UAE,” he added.

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