India has not approached Pakistan, directly or through intermediaries, to resume dialogue between the two countries, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, dismissing claims by Imran Khan’s top security adviser, Moeed W Yusuf, that New Delhi had sent a silent message that reflected what he called, “a desire for conversation.”
“It is fiction,” a senior government official told the Hindustan Times on condition of anonymity, noting that a formal response to Moeed Yusuf’s claim would come from the Foreign Ministry spokesperson in due course.
The officials added that New Delhi’s position on holding any talks with Pakistan had been consistent and was previously conditional on Islamabad taking concrete steps to build an atmosphere free from the shadow of terror and violence. This would require Pakistan to shut down the terrorist training camps operating across the border and crack down on the hundreds of terrorists operating from its territory.
One senior official said that any effort to suggest that India is willing to have a dialogue with Pakistan before fulfilling its obligation to create an enabling environment is not only “mischievous, but also a pipe dream.”
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It is as outrageous as his effort in the same interview to link India to the 2014 terror attack on an army school in Peshawar, the official added. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, backed by the Pak deep state, claimed responsibility for the attack that killed more than 130 children.
In an interview, Moeed W Yusuf, special assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Division of National Security and Strategic Planning, had indicated that Pakistan was lukewarm on India’s proposals and wanted India to first meet four conditions, including repeal of the abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. and the release of political prisoners in the Kashmir Valley, a term Islamabad often uses to include terrorists as well.
Observers for Pakistan said Moeed Yusuf’s claims appear to be aimed at obfuscating the facts on the ground.
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In New Delhi, 39-year-old Imran Khan’s adviser is seen also serving as Pakistan’s national security adviser, playing the China game in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) in the occupied Northern Areas. Pakistan has incorporated the disputed region as one of Pakistan’s five provinces at the behest of China. China has invested millions of dollars in this region for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to build an alternative supply route to the Strait of Malacca, the shipping channel between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
An observer from Pakistan said Yusuf is believed to have worked closely with the Pakistani military and Interservice Intelligence long before Imran Khan chose him to be his adviser. Yusuf was previously at the United States Institute of Peace, where he had cultivated an image of being an advocate for Indo-Pak peace and the resolution of the Kashmir problem and established himself in the establishment in Washington.
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