Once again accusing India for the decades-long violence in Jammu and Kashmir and along the Line of Control, Pakistan on Thursday rejected External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s remarks that cross-border infiltration by Pakistan was derailing peace talks between both nations.The neighbouring country yesterday said that “India should create an enabling environment for result-oriented engagement” in order to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.EAM Jaishankar is at present on an official visit to the United States.“Look what I can tell you at this point of time is that we had an agreement some weeks ago between our Director General of Military Operations that we would not fire across at each other, across the Line of Control, which has seen a lot of that. And it’s seen a lot of that, mainly because there’s been infiltration from their side. So, the basis for not firing is very clear because the reason for firing is infiltration so if there is no infiltration there’s obviously no reason to fire. That’s a good step. But, I think there are obviously bigger issues,” Jaishankar said during a conversation with former US National Security Advisor General HR McMaster in New York. The EAM was responding to a question during the ‘Battlegrounds’ session on ‘India: Opportunities and Challenges for a Strategic Partnership’.The Pakistan Foreign Minister’s Office responded to Jaishankar’s statements and “categorically rejected the allegations of any cross-border infiltration”.“The peace and security in the region was threatened due to India’s refusal to resolve the Jammu and Kashmir dispute in accordance with the United Nations Security Council Resolutions,” the Pakistan statement stated.The Pakistan Foreign Office also said that the Jammu and Kashmir dispute continues to be the core outstanding issue since 1947 between India and Pakistan.Indo-Pak relations have further deteriorated after New Delhi withdrew the special powers of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, leading to the bifurcation of the state into two union territories.
