‘We have learnt our lesson’: Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif calls for talks with PM Modi

“My message to the Indian leadership and Prime Minister Modi is that let’s sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning points like Kashmir. It is up to us to live peacefully and make progress or quarrel with each other and waste time and resources,” Shehbaz Sharif said.

“We have had three wars with India, and they have only brought more misery, poverty, and unemployment to the people. We have learnt our lesson, and we want to live in peace with India, provided we are able to resolve our genuine problems,” he said.

“India is our neighbour country, we are neighbours. Let’s be very blunt, even if we are not neighbours by choice, we are there forever and it is up to us for us to live peacefully and progress or quarrel with each other and waste time and resources. That is up to us,” the Pakistan PM said.

Sharif also raised the issue of Kashmir and said, “Pakistan wants peace but what is happening in Kashmir should be stopped.”

He said that both countries have engineers, doctors, and skilled labourers. “We want to utilise these assets for prosperity and to bring peace to the region so that both nations can grow,” Sharif said.

“Pakistan does not want to waste resources on bombs and ammunition. We are nuclear powers, armed to the teeth, and if God forbid, a war breaks out, who will live to tell what happened?” he said.

Pakistan PMO’s rider

In reference to the interview, a spokesman of the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Office tweeted that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had consistently maintained that Pakistan and India must resolve their bilateral issues, especially the “core issue of Jammu and Kashmir”, through dialogue and peaceful means.

“However, the Prime Minister has repeatedly stated on record that talks can only take place after India had reversed its illegal action of August 5, 2019; without India’s revocation of this step, negotiations are not possible. The settlement of the Kashmir dispute must be in accordance with the UN resolutions and the aspirations of the people of Jammu & Kashmir,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman added that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif made this position very clear in his interview with Al Arabiya news channel during his recent visit to the UAE.