Talks with India the way forward, says Pakistan’s new Foreign Minister

Islamabad (Reuters): Dialogue is the only way forward for ties between Pakistan and India, the Foreign Minister in Islamabad said on Monday, fuelling hopes of a thaw in relations between the arch-foes following Imran Khan’s July election victory.

Khan, who took office as Pakistani Prime Minister at the weekend, has proposed talks to resolve a long-standing dispute over the Kashmir region. He spoke to Indian Premier Narendra Modi by telephone in late July.

Speaking ahead of the first meeting of Khan’s cabinet, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said it was vital to resume talks, which have made little progress in recent years, between the nuclear-armed neighbours who have fought three wars since 1947.

“We need a continued and uninterrupted dialogue. This is our only way forward,” he told reporters in the capital Islamabad.

Qureshi said Modi had written to Khan congratulating him on his victory and suggesting the two countries “open talks”.

But the ministry later walked back from those remarks, saying Qureshi had referred only to the need for constructive dialogue and not of any Modi offer of talks.

An Indian Foreign Ministry official confirmed Modi wrote to Khan on Saturday and “expressed India’s commitment to build good neighbourly relations ... and pursue meaningful and constructive engagement for the benefit of the people of the region”.

Powerful military

Two of the countries’ three wars since India was partitioned following the end of British colonial rule in 1947 have been fought over the disputed Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir, where their armies face off other and occasionally exchange fire.

India has long accused Pakistan of encouraging separatist Muslim militants fighting Indian rule in the Indian part of Kashmir. The militants occasionally launch bloody attacks in Indian towns and cities.

Afghanistan has also for years accused Pakistan of supporting Taliban militants fighting the Indian- and Western-backed Kabul government.

Pakistan denies aiding insurgent groups in both Kashmir and Afghanistan.

Khan, in his offer to India last month, said Pakistan was ready to respond positively to any effort on dialogue.

“If India comes and takes one step toward us, we will take two,” said Khan, who had been bellicose towards India while campaigning for last month’s election.

However, Pakistani security policy is largely determined by its powerful military, not by civilian governments.

Its previous civilian government under Nawaz Sharif also sought better ties with India.

Hopes soared following a surprise visit by Modi to Sharif in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore in December 2015, the first such visit by an Indian prime minister in more than a decade.

But the hopes unravelled weeks later when militants attacked an Indian army base in Indian-controlled Kashmir.India blamed Pakistan for the attack. Pakistan denied that.

Sharif was convicted of corruption by an anti-graft court in July and jailed for 10 years, a conviction he is appealing against. The government said on Monday it would bar Sharif from travelling abroad.

Pakistan to ban jailed ex-PM Nawaz Sharif from travelling abroad

Islamabad (Reuters): Pakistan will bar jailed former leader Nawaz Sharif from travelling abroad, the Government said on Monday, in one of the first decisions taken by new Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Cabinet.

Sharif was convicted of corruption by an anti-graft court in July and jailed for 10 years. His and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, sentenced to seven years on the same charges, are appealing against their convictions.

One-time national cricket captain Khan won elections in July after spearheading a campaign in the courts and on the streets against Sharif, alleging he and his family plundered the country’s exchequer and laundered money abroad.

They deny the allegations, and accuse Khan of being a military stooge.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the ban on Sharif and his daughter, agreed in the inaugural meeting of Khan’s Cabinet, was part of his Government’s efforts to strengthen the accountability process.

“It has been decided that the names of Nawaz Sharif and his daughter will be placed on exit control list,” Chaudhry told reporters in Islamabad.

Sharif, a three-time prime minister, was removed from office by the Supreme Court last year, and sentenced over ownership of luxury apartments in London weeks before the 25 July election. He was arrested upon his return home from London on 13 July.His third five-year term in government was characterised by discord with the military, which has ruled Pakistan for nearly half its 71-year history.

Sharif and his daughter challenged their convictions in a higher court, which on Monday concluded hearings and is due to announce a judgement at a later date.