NEW DELHI, India: The Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said on Friday that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be welcome whenever he chooses to visit Pakistan, the Indian media reported.
However, the Pakistani envoy noted that such high-level visits don’t happen without adequate preparation”.
A visit to Pakistan by Modi “would be welcome whenever he comes,” Basit said at an event at the Press Club of India. “It is too early to say anything” about such a visit, he added.
The Pakistani envoy said that the meeting between Modi and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during Modi’s May 26 swearing-in ceremony and the bilateral talks a day later in New Delhi “was a good beginning”.
Sharif has articulated the agenda of “development for security and security for development” and “we are very glad that the new Indian government is also committed to it…There is compatibility of agendas,” Basit said.
While stressing that it was time for Pakistan and India to “dispense with past stereotypes” and move forward in their bilateral relationship, Basit said that “all roots of the problems go back to Jammu and Kashmir”.
“The genesis of all disputes find origin in J and K… we need to resolve all the issues. We have new challenges to face like terrorism,” the envoy said and stressed that both sides need to bring stability to the region through more engagement.
The envoy said that Pakistan is keen to build itself as a bridge between South Asia and the Economic Cooperation Organisation, a bloc of 10 South-Central Asian countries which was founded by Turkey, Pakistan and Iran in 1985.
Pakistan is “destined to become a regional economic power” and is keen to boost regional connectivity, he said.
Pushing for more bilateral connectivity, Basit said that it was shameful that though both countries share a long border they hardly have any air connectivity. Abdul Basit also said that both sides were examining a proposal for roaming facility on the SIMs of mobile phones of citizens while in each other’s country.
On international issues India and Pakistan have convergences, Basit said. Both countries could work together on issues like climate change, human rights, peace keeping, he added.
“I am confident (we can work together)…the warmth we feel in the environment of India, it is unparalleled,” the high commissioner said.
To a question on ceasefire violations, the envoy said there was a different story being told on each side about who was responsible, and underlined that both countries need to “shed stereotypes and move on”.
