RIYADH: Pakistan feels that the people of Jammu & Kashmir should be included in the dialogue process between India and Pakistan, said Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar in a candid interview with Arab News.
“I think we have to get out of preconceived notions of stated positions … that hold each other in doubts. We should start looking at things through a new lens. And that lens must be problem-solving rather than repeating the stated positions time and again,” she said.Confirming there is a policy shift toward India, she said: “We have intensively engaged with India to improve the atmosphere of trust, and to send a very serious message that Pakistan wants a relationship with New Delhi that is not hostage to the past.”
Regarding the most favored nation status given to New Delhi, she said: “Now after 40 years, the policy of normalizing trade relations with India by Pakistan is an important gesture.” MFN, in fact, is a misnomer, it can be misconstrued, hence I would like to use the term normalizing the trade relations, she said.She said Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with its close allies like Pakistan, is working diligently toward restoring peace and stability in the Middle East and the world at large.
The current instability in the region, coupled with a common desire to restore peace and security in the countries suffering from uprisings, will lead to initiatives to move the peace process forward, especially in the case of Afghanistan and Syria, she said.She said that Riyadh and Islamabad would forge closer ties in several other areas. This will also help the Kingdom, which can make sizable profits in Pakistani commercial real estate, education, infrastructure, IT and public transportation projects. – ArabNews
