ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s army on Thursday rejected an Indian newspaper’s report that its top commander, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, had approached his Indian counterpart, General Bipin Rawat, for bilateral talks between the two countries.
“Hindustan Times’ reports that Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa had approached Indian COAS for talks and that both had served together in Congo. Story is factually incorrect,” Major General Asif Ghafoor, Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), tweeted on Thursday.
“The COAS has neither approached Indian COAS nor has served with him in Congo,” he said, adding that the “decision for talks is [the] prerogative of both the governments.”
The Hindustan Times, on Wednesday, had published a report quoting General Rawat wherein he said: “Let Gen Qamar Bajwa approach me through the Indian government, and we will take a decision on whether to talk or not. I am neither saying yes, nor no.”
Talks between the nuclear-armed neighbors have been stalled since 2016.
Last week, on Jan 18, while talking to reporters in New York, United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, said he hoped that India and Pakistan will engage in a “meaningful dialogue” to resolve their issues.
In response to questions raised by reporters, Guterres said he has offered his “good offices in relation to the dialogue between the two countries that, until now, had no conditions of success.”
