ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan’s close aide and key cabinet minister Asad Umar said on Tuesday Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s message of goodwill on March 23 was a “welcome step.”
Modi, in a letter to his counterpart Imran Khan shared on social media, extended best wishes to Pakistan on March 23, when Pakistanis commemorate a 1940 resolution that called for the establishment of an independent homeland for the Muslims of British-ruled India.
Arab News was unable to independently verify the contents of the letter.
“India desires cordial relations with the people of Pakistan. For this, an environment of trust, devoid of terror and hostility,” PM Modi’s letter said.
Minister Umar in a tweet said “from the day he became PM @ImranKhanPTI has been expressing his desire for a peaceful south asia with relationships with all our neighbor’s based on mutual respect & peace coexistence.”
PM @narendramodi message of goodwill on 23rd march is a welcome step. From the day he became PM @ImranKhanPTI has been expressing his desire for a peaceful south asia with relationships with all our neighbour's based on mutual respect & peace coexistence.
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) March 23, 2021
Earlier in the day Pakistan’s acting high commissioner to New Delhi said Islamabad wanted friendly relations with all its neighbors including India, adding that peace was inevitable in the South Asian region, local media reported.
India and Pakistan are holding the first meeting in three years today, Tuesday, of a commission on water rights from the Indus River in what is being seen as a further sign of rapprochement in relations frozen since 2019 during disputes over Kashmir.
Last week, while addressing an international conference, the Islamabad Security Dialogue, PM Khan had urged India to take the first step toward regional peace by resolving the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.
Khan said his government had offered dialogue to India, but the effort was upended by New Delhi’s “illegal actions” in 2019.
“India must take the first step and create an enabling environment for moving forward,” Khan said, as quoted in a statement issued by his office.
India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which both countries claim in full but rule it in part. The disputed Himalayan region has become the focus of renewed tensions between the nuclear-armed powers after Aug. 5, 2019, when New Delhi revoked the semi-autonomy of Kashmiri territory under its administration and imposed a military lockdown and media blackout in the region.
