New Delhi: Pakistan Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Saturday said that Islamabad believes in resolving all issues with India through dialogue and that his country is ready to move forward on Kashmir if India agrees.
Speaking at the two-day ‘Islamabad Security Dialogue’ conference, Bajwa, as quoted by news agency IANS, said, “Pakistan continues to believe in using dialogue and diplomacy to resolve all outstanding issues, including the Kashmir dispute and is ready to move forward on this front if India also agrees to do so.”
Stressing the importance of keeping conflicts at bay, he said that his country also wanted the Sino-India border issue to be resolved soon through diplomacy and dialogue, Dawn reported.
“I believe it is time for the political leadership of the region to rise above their emotional and perceptional biases and break the shackles of history to bring peace and prosperity to almost three billion people of the region,” Bajwa said, adding, “Pakistan recognises that it is the regions and not countries that grow. This is why we believe that peace and stability in our wider region are prerequisites for achieving shared regional prosperity and development. In this regard, our doors are open for all our neighbours.”
Notably, Bajwa had made similar comments during the Islamabad Security Dialogue last year when he had said that it was time for both India and Pakistan to "bury the past and move forward."
Citing the accidental launch of a supersonic cruise missile by Indian into Pakistan on March 9, Bajwa said that his country expects India to provide evidence to assure Pakistan that their weapons are safe and secure.
"Unlike other incidents involving strategic weapons systems, this is the first time in history that a supersonic cruise missile from one nuclear-armed nation has landed in another," he added.
Bajwa further said that this incident had raised ‘serious concerns’ about India's ability to manage and operate high-end weapons systems, and that it’s “indifferent attitude in not informing Pakistan immediately about the inadvertent launch,” Dawn reported.