Kashmir will always be on agenda for any bilateral talk with India, says Pakistan

After India emphatically stating its firm stand on terrorism and under what terms and conditions bilateral talks can take place with Islamabad, Pakistan has asserted that the issue of Jammu and Kashmir will be always at the top of its agenda for any talks between the two nations.

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"India's attempts to deny its illegal occupation of Jammu and Kashmir are a travesty of history. To perpetuate its occupation, India has deployed over seven hundred thousand security forces in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Only the occupier would oppose the implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions that promised self-determination to the people of the disputed State of Jammu and Kashmir. Over 100,000 Kashmiris have been killed, thousands of women widowed and raped, and children orphaned by this brutal occupation and the most egregious form of state terrorism by India. Independent human rights organisations have confirmed the existence of over 6000 unnamed mass graves in Indian Occupied Kashmir," said Counselor in Pakistan's Permanent Mission to the United Nations Bilal Ahmad.

"The core issue of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be cast aside by empty rhetoric. It has been and will always be on top of the agenda of any talks between India and Pakistan. This is because durable peace and stability in the region depends on a just and lasting settlement of this dispute in accordance with the resolutions of the UN Security Council.

It is, therefore, disingenuous of India to ignore the serious peace initiative proposed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan from this august forum," he added.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly here, Swaraj, who was speaking a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had raised the settlement of the Kashmir issue again at the UNGA, said that the masterminds of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack are still walking free in Pakistan which was an affront to the entire international community.

Swaraj said that India is prepared to hold talks at the NSA level related to terrorism and agreeable to the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) to address the situation on the border as agreed upon by the Prime Ministers of the two countries in Ufa this year if Pakistan's response is serious and credible.