Pakistan on Friday said it would welcome US facilitation in resolving the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, which Islamabad has been trying to resolve with India since 1947.
The two nuclear-armed nations severed ties in 2019 after the Narendra Modi administration revoked the special status of Occupied Kashmir and have since continued their rampant terror in the Himalayan valley.
“Regarding India-Pakistan relations and facilitation by third parties, including the US, Pakistan has always said that we would welcome the international community to play its role in promoting peace in the region through dialogue and resolution of underlying conflicts. The solution includes facilitation. Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told reporters in a weekly briefing in Islamabad that Pakistan and India have a dispute over Jammu and Kashmir.
The spokesperson was responding to a question regarding a recent statement by Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Masood Khan, in which he hinted at possible US mediation to resolve the Kashmir issue.
In 2021, then US President Donald Trump said that the Washington administration was watching developments between India and Pakistan on Kashmir “very closely” and was ready to help if needed.
“Trade will be very important … and we’re working together on some borders, and we’re talking about Kashmir, what’s going on with Pakistan and India. And if we can help If there is, we will definitely help,” he had said.
Islamabad and New Delhi agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary in November 2003, but this ceasefire has been repeatedly violated since Modi came to power in 2014.
Asked about Modi’s possible visit in April 2021, the spokesperson declined to comment, saying: “You know very well, we don’t talk about speculative reporting.”
