Pakistan accuses India of 'negativity' at Heart of Asia conference

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday blamed India for spoiling the Heart of Asia platform by negating the aim and objective for which the conference was held in Amritsar last week and said that it wanted meaningful, sustainable and result-oriented dialogue with New Delhi on all issues, including the problem of Kashmir.
“The conference was called for promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan but India’s ‘negativity’ at the multilateral event exposed its claims of commitment to prospects of peace in Afghanistan,” said Nafees Zakaria, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said at the conference on December 4 that inaction against terrorism in the region would encourage terrorists and their facilitators.
While addressing a press briefing, Zakaria criticized India’s behaviour as “poor” with the Pakistani delegation during the ministerial conference. “It ruined the atmosphere and proved that India is attempting to divert attention away from Indian ‘atrocities’ in Kashmir,” he said.
The spokesperson said that Islamabad wants meaningful, sustainable and result-oriented dialogue with New Delhi on all issues, including the problem of Kashmir.
“Any dialogue with India should lead to ultimate resolution of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions,” Zakaria said.
“Despite a number of gestures by Pakistan, India remains defiant and intransigent to resumption of dialogue,” he added.
Regarding Ashraf Ghani’s comments at the conference, the FO said that Pakistan is committed to take target all militant outfits without any discrimination. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had said, “We need to identify cross-border terrorism and a fund to combat terrorism.”
Zakaria maintained that Afghan soil has long been used against Pakistan by India’s RAW.