Pakistan's PM Shehbaz Sharif has once again expressed his intention to hold talks with India. Shahbaz has said that he wants to hold talks with India to resolve all the serious and pending issues. There is no alternative to war with India. At the same time, Shahbaz has also accepted that his country is fighting poverty and unemployment. Significantly, this is the second time in the last seven months that Pakistan's PM Shehbaz has offered for talks with India.

Sharif made the remarks while addressing the inaugural session of the Pakistan Mineral Summit in Islamabad. In a clear reference to India, Shehbaz Sharif said that we are ready to talk with everyone, even with our neighbor, provided the neighbor is serious enough to put serious issues on the table. He further said that war is no longer an option. Organized under the slogan 'Dust to Development', the objective of the meeting was to bring foreign investment in the cash-strapped country.

During this, Sharif also mentioned the three wars with India. He said that in the last 75 years we have fought three wars. These wars have resulted in an increase in poverty, unemployment and lack of resources for the education, health and welfare of the people. In such a situation, war is no longer an option.

During this Shahbaz also mentioned about nuclear weapons. Shahbaz said that Pakistan is a nuclear-rich country. Our nuclear capability is for defensive purposes and not for aggression. But if there is ever a nuclear war in the future, it is not known whether anyone will be alive to tell what happened. So war is not an option. Sharif emphasized that Pakistan is well aware of the dark side of nuclear conflict but India should also realize the same.

During this, Shahbaz said that it is equally important that our neighbor has to understand that until and unless the abnormalities are removed and until our serious issues are understood and there cannot be a peaceful and meaningful discussion. Till then we cannot be normal neighbours.

Let us tell you that the tension in relations between India and Pakistan continues on many issues including cross-border terrorism and the Kashmir issue. Bilateral relations between the two countries were further strained in August 2019 when India revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has already made India's stand clear on relations with Pakistan. He has given a blunt reply many times that it is not possible for India to have normal relations with the neighboring country until the policy of cross-border terrorism is ended.

 

Earlier in January, in an interview given to Al-Arabiya, one of the leading media institutions of West Asia, when the Pakistani Prime Minister was questioned about relations with India, he said that Pakistan learned lessons in three wars since independence. And they want peace now. He also appealed to the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi through the channel itself. He said that Pakistan wants peace, but whatever is happening in Kashmir should stop.