New Delhi: In the first interview to the Indian media by any Pakistani official after the constitutional changes in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s national security and strategic policy planning adviser has revealed that India has sent a message expressing your desire for negotiations.
“We have a message of desire for conversation,” Moeed Yusuf said, but declined to release further details. However, he insisted that Kashmiris should be a third party in these talks, something that cannot be a headline for the Indian side. He also made it clear that Pakistan is willing to discuss terrorism.
In a lengthy 75-minute interview for The wire often quarrelsome and aggressive and even unrestricted at times, Yusuf told Karan Thapar “we must sit like adults.” He said there are two themes, Kashmir and terror, adding “I want to talk about both.” He said Pakistan “is in favor of peace and we want to move forward.”
However, in the interview, Yusuf appeared to repeatedly suggest that the Kashmiri people would have to be a third party in the talks and, secondly, that two other preconditions were that India should reverse what he called the “military siege” in Cashmere and back off. the new domicile law.
At one point in the interview, he appeared to attack Ajit Doval, India’s national security adviser, when he said, “Compare me to my counterpart in India,” adding that his goal is to increase political space for his prime minister. ie Imran Khan.
In the interview, which will raise the The wireOn the website at 5:00 pm Tuesday, a wide range of questions were posed and topics were discussed. They include why Pakistan is so concerned about the recent constitutional changes in Jammu and Kashmir. Doesn’t this contradict Islamabad’s intention to grant Gilgit-Baltistan full province status? How is Pakistan demanding that Article 370 be restored when it previously considered it a sham and Pakistani high commissioners were not meeting with the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir? How Pakistan’s focus on Article 370 has had little response from the world (except Malaysia and Turkey), but alienated Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s accusation of “genocide” and “a final solution” in Kashmir, while remaining totally silent and even expressing ignorance about the plight of Uighurs in China.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan (left) with his adviser on national security affairs, Moeed Yusuf (right). Photo: Imran Khan / Facebook
After the Kashmir issue, Karan Thapar questioned Moeed Yusuf about former Indian naval officer, Kulbhushan Jadhav, sentenced to death in Pakistan on espionage charges that India insists are false. Why is Pakistan refusing to give Indian diplomats unhindered and unconditional consular access to Jadhav? Why is Pakistan refusing to hand over to India all documents related to this case without which “effective review and reconsideration” cannot take place, as required by the International Court of Justice? And why does Pakistan refuse permission to appoint an Indian lawyer or a British QC when the Lahore High Court Bar Association has threatened to take action against any Pakistani lawyer defending Jadhav?
Yusuf was also questioned about Pakistan’s repeated refusal to take action against terrorists attacking India from Pakistani soil and, in particular, about the failure to prosecute the seven defendants in the 2008 Mumbai killings. These men they are now out on bail and cannot be traced or are reportedly kept in ISI safe houses.
In response to these problems, Yusuf said that “Kashmiris hate Indians.” He said the August 2019 constitutional changes “are not an internal matter.” He said they were “a UN issue.”
Speaking about Prime Minister Imran Khan’s silence on the Uighurs in making allegations of genocide in Kashmir, he said this was “a false equivalence”. He said the Uighurs “were not a problem.” He said that he had personally studied the matter in detail and was one hundred percent satisfied that the Uyghurs were being treated properly by the Chinese government and that there was no problem.
Speaking of Jadhav, Yusuf said that India “has been caught with her pants down.” It says that there is no law that allows an Indian lawyer to present a case in a Pakistani court. He refused to accept that Pakistan has denied India unhindered and unconditional consular access and repeatedly did not answer why a Pakistani official was always present at meetings with Jadhav and why Pakistan insisted on recording the meetings.
Speaking about the 2008 Mumbai terror attack and Pakistan’s failure to bring the defendants to justice, Yusuf blamed India squarely. He said India is “deliberately delaying sending evidence and witnesses” because it wants to keep the problem alive and use it to run Pakistan down in front of the world.
In the interview, Yusuf did his best to accuse India of inflicting terror on Pakistan. First, he claimed that in 2019 the Indian Embassy in Kabul had given $ 1 million to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan to help the TTP merge with four militant groups. When asked to be specific, he named two of these groups, but was unable to name the other two.
Yusuf also claimed that the person responsible for the 2014 terror attack on an army school in Peshawar was in contact with “an Indian consulate” (but did not say which one). He said Pakistan has the phone number of the handler’s contact. He added: “We have tests for the T.”
Yusuf also accused the Indian embassy in Afghanistan of using think tanks as a front to funnel money to Baloch terrorists. He claimed that the commander of the Baloch National Army had been treated in a hospital in Delhi.
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