MrKarki

During the visit of Foreign Minister Shah MahmoodQureshi to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on April 17 this year, some analysts and anchors of print and electronic media, including those of foreign and Indian media entities said that Qureshi would meet Minister of External Affairs of India Dr S Jaishankar who would be in Abu Dhabi for a day trip on April 18, setting off speculations that the top diplomats may meet as part of efforts to seek rapprochement.

Indian media in particular propagated that the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India would hold secret talks to break the Kashmir deadlock and the UAE is facilitating these dialogues as a third party. Surprisingly, the UAE Ambassador to Washington also confirmed that his country was facilitating dialogue between the two countries.

But there was no official confirmation from the governments of the UAE and Pakistan about these talks, while there were also misconceived reports that senior intelligence officials of Pakistan and India had met in Dubai in January, leading to the ceasefire between the two countries along the Line of Control (LoC), as the UAE allegedly played a key role.

In the recent past, the controversial debate accelerated on the country’s media when the federal cabinet deferred the proposal of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for the import of cotton and sugar from India. Foreign Minister Qureshi had said that a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan decided that the trade with India would remain suspended and normalisation of Pakistan-India ties was impossible unless India reversed its unilateral steps of August 5, 2019 in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), under which the region was stripped of its statehood and special constitutional status.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Security MoeedYusaf stated that the ECC forwards its recommendations to the cabinet for approval in every decision; the cabinet is the final decision-making forum. However, without taking cognisance of reality, various leaders of Pakistan’s opposition parties denounced the lifting of the ban on the import of cotton and sugar from India, saying that Islamabad has moved to normalise relations with New Delhi without resolving the Kashmir issue. Some of them allegedly stated that the present regime bargained the Kashmir dispute in exchange for trade with India.

Meanwhile, addressing the two-day conference-Islamabad Security Dialogue, PM Imran Khan stated that good relations with regional neighbours were also paramount for national security and called upon India to give the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir (IIOK) their right to self-determination in line with the United Nations Security Council Resolutions. Recounting August 5, 2019 when India revoked the special status of IIOK, he explained that for an enabling environment for meaningful dialogue, “India must take the first step forward.”

In this backdrop, leaders of opposition parties and media analysts presumed that Islamabad and New Delhi are in contact through backchannel diplomacy, while the PTI government has ignored its stance on Kashmir. In their misconceptions, these entities forgot that the present regime has raised the issue of IIOK, the military lockdown, state terrorism and abrogation of the special status of Kashmir on various international forums, including the OIC and the UN, while stressing on the settlement of the Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN resolutions.

Putting an end to speculations, a day after his visit to UAE, Foreign Minister Shah MahmoodQureshi ruled out backchannel talks between Islamabad and New Delhi, clarifying that he was not scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. He elaborated: “I am here for a bilateral visit…UAE-Pakistan and not an India-specific agenda…We are ready to hold talks with New Delhi if it reverses the illegal steps of August 5, 2019.”

During a recent trip to Turkey, Foreign Minister Qureshi also attended the trilateral meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of the three countries—Afghanistan and Turkey held in Istanbul regarding peace in Afghanistan. Talking to a Turkish television network, Qureshi categorically rejected the speculation of any secret talks between Pakistan and India through backdoor channels or third-party involvement—the UAE. Misconceptions about the secret Pakistan-India talks particularly on the Kashmir dispute have been clarified.