Pakistan-India ties improving, says Qureshi

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi (right) and Defense Minister Pervez Khattak address a press conference in Islamabad, following heightened tensions with India, in this file photo from February 26. (AP)

• New Delhi expresses desire for Islamabad to open part of its airspace
• Thaw follows congratulatory call made by premier Khan to PM Modi

ISLAMABAD: After several months of tension between New Delhi and Islamabad following a suicide attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Monday that relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors were finally improving.
On Sunday, while addressing an iftar dinner in his hometown of Multan, Qureshi said that after the Pulwama attack on February 14, both countries had banned their airspace from being used by the other for international flights.
“Now India has expressed its desire to lift the ban as the fares of Indian planes have gone up, thus creating trouble for their passengers,” Radio Pakistan said on Monday, quoting FM Qureshi.
He added that Pakistan has extended an offer to the newly-elected government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss all outstanding issues.
On May 26, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan had called Modi to congratulate him on his party’s victory in the general elections, and expressed his desire for both countries to work together for the betterment of their people.