New Delhi, Aug 20 (ANI): The present phase of Indo-Pak ties is full of promise and that too without compromising on the Kashmir issue, which is not on the backburner, Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Salman Bashir has said.
"This present phase of Indo-Pakistan relations is full of promise and hope," The Dawn quoted Bashir, as saying.
Commenting on the Kashmir dispute, Bashir said: "It can never be put on the backburner, as it pertains to the lives of the people."
The most important objective at this point in time, he said, was to see that space and comfort were created for the Kashmiri people.
He said the two countries need to change the narrative of their discourse.
"You can only do that with a bit of imagination and creativity. The same statements repeated year after year-cordial, constructive, etc.-do not inspire the imagination of people. There is a feel-good sense and an ardent desire on the part of the leadership to move together," the envoy said.
"The way forward is simple. Let people dream of a better future. Let's not try to censor those dreams. When you have issues or problems, you can get yourself in a quagmire and keep on sinking, remain bitter and get caught in a self-trap. Or you can think of tomorrow as a better day. There is a need to delineate the way forward in terms of a vision statement," he added
Like China and India, development is Pakistan's strategic priority number one. "So we extend a hand of friendship. Our readiness to walk the extra mile is for the sake of our people and the people of this region," he said. He did not clarify what really walking that extra mile implied. (ANI)
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