Pakistan raises 'core issue' Kashmir at Foreign Secretary-level talks, says 'just solution' needed

Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry is in New Delhi to attend the Heart of Asia (Istanbul Process) conference.

New Delhi: Pakistan on Tuesday raked up the Kashmir issue again during the Foreign Secretary-level talks here.

Visiting Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry brought up the Kashmir issue during talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar at the South Block.

Chaudhry is in New Delhi to attend the Heart of Asia (Istanbul Process) conference on Afghanistan and he met the Indian Foreign Secretary ahead of the event.

The Pakistani High Commission here said after the meeting between Jaishankar and Chaudhry that “all outstanding issues including Kashmir were discussed” during the talks.

“The Pakistani Foreign Secretary emphasised that Kashmir remains the core issue that requires a just solution in accordance with UNSC resolutions and wishes of Kashmiri people,” the High Commission stated, as per PTI.

Chaudhry, meanwhile, also underscored the need for early commencement of the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue.

Today's were the first formal talks between the two neighbours after the January 2 attack on Pathankot air base in Punjab.

It was not clear whether the Pathankot terror attack came up for discussion at the meet.

It was reported ahead of the talks that the two sides will strive to put the bilateral dialogue process back on track during today's meet.

The bilateral talks had got stalled following the attack on the Pathankot air base in which seven security personnel were killed by militants of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The attack derailed the dialogue process which had kick-started with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's visit to Islamabad last October for a Heart of Asia ministerial meeting jointly hosted by Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Both the sides had agreed on resumption of the bilateral dialogue, naming it Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's December 25 stopover to Lahore during which he met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif had also given a fillip to the dialogue process.