No backdoor dialogue with India underway: Pak foreign minister

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that there can be no talks with India under the current deteriorating situation between the two countries.

 

 

 

Qureshi also asserted that there was no backdoor or diplomatic dialogue underway between Pakistan and India.

 

"There is no possibility of a backdoor or diplomatic dialogue with India in the prevailing situation," he said.

 

"It is not possible until the Indian atrocities are stopped in Kashmir. The circumstances are not suitable for any dialogue at the moment."

 

Qureshi's statement comes at a time when heavy exchange of fire between the Indian and Pakistan border security forces have intensified, leaving dozens of casualties on both sides.

 

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry has been summoning the Indian envoy to record their protest against what it calls, India's deliberate ceasefire violation along the Line of Control (LoC).

 

Pakistan maintains that Indian forces have recently targeted a UN vehicle, while various violations have caused loss of lives of civilians living along the border along with damages to their properties.

 

"Indian troops unprovoked ceasefire violation in Tatta Pani and Jandrot Sectors along the Line of Control, deliberately targeting civil population with mortars and heavy weapons," the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

 

"A 50-year-old women died and other civilians, including a four-year-old child, were wounded in the incidents in the Tatta Pani and Jandrot areas," it added.

 

Pakistan has said that the shelling from the Indian side came hours before Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited the frontline troops at the LoC.

 

"These egregious violations of international law reflect consistent Indian attempts to escalate the situation along the LoC and are a threat to regional peace and security," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

 

Pakistan has claimed that India has committed ceasefire violations at least 3,000 times in the year 2020 only, which has killed at least 28 civilians and injured some 250 others.

 

While Pakistan accuses India for the violations, New Delhi has denied Islamabad's claims.

--IANS

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