China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will not affect China’s stand on Kashmir Issue: Zhao Lijian

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will not affect China's stand on Kashmir Issue - Zhao Lijian

China on Monday again defended its controversial USD 60 billion CPEC project with Pakistan, disregarding India’s protests as it is being laid through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, saying it is an economic initiative and has not affected its principled stand on the Kashmir issue. Leaders of China and Pakistan have praised the progress of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in recent days as the two close allies celebrated the establishment of 70 years of their diplomatic relations. India has protested to China over the CPEC, the flagship project of China’s Belt and…

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Saudi Arabia – Pakistan vow to reset ties strained over Kashmir Issue

Saudi Arabia - Pakistan vow to reset ties strained over Kashmir Issue

Saudi Arabia and longstanding ally Pakistan signed several agreements Saturday and vowed to reset ties strained by months of disagreement over policy on the Kashmir dispute.On his seventh visit to the wealthy kingdom since his 2018 election, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was given a warm welcome by Saudi officials in the western coastal city of Jeddah.He was greeted by Saudi Arabia’s de-facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the airport, before holding talks with Saudi officials at Jeddah’s Al-Salam Palace.“They affirmed the depth of relations between the two…

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Volkan Bozkir, UN General Assembly president says Kashmir Status should not be changed, acknowledges Shimla Agreement of 1972

Volkan Bozkir, UN General Assembly president says Kashmir Status should not be changed, acknowledges Simla Agreement of 1972

General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir has said that the status of Jammu and Kashmir should not be changed while acknowledging the 1972 Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan making it a bilateral issue. “I call on all parties to refrain from taking steps that could affect the status of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said at a news conference here on Tuesday. “I support dialogue and diplomacy, and I encourage both Pakistan and India, neighbours, to resolve this dispute through peaceful means,” he said. While answering a reporter’s question about Kashmir,…

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Pakistan seeks specific actions in disputed Kashmir form India to move head in talks

Pakistan is willing to move forward in its engagement with India, potentially including formal bilateral dialogue on resolving the Kashmir dispute, if its eastern neighbour takes certain specified steps “to ease lives” in Kashmir, senior Pakistani sources have told. The Pakistani sources, who have knowledge of the situation and spoke to KP, shared for the first time a list of “examples” of actions that the Indian government could take in Indian-administered Kashmir to move the talks closer to a formal bilateral dialogue. Ties between the two nuclear-armed countries have been…

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To break Kashmir Impasse secret talks held between India & Pakistan

Top intelligence officers from India and Pakistan held secret talks in Dubai in January in a new effort to calm military tension over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, people with close knowledge of the matter told our reporter in Delhi. Ties between the nuclear-armed rivals have been on ice since a suicide bombing of an Indian military convoy in Kashmir in 2019 traced to Pakistan-based militants that led to India sending warplanes to Pakistan. Later that year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdrew Indian-ruled Kashmir’s autonomy in order to…

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Pakistan seeks ‘Guarantees’ on J&K for better ties

The thaw comes after a considerable deterioration in ties that followed New Delhi’s decision to do away with the special status granted to J&K under Article 370. Constitutional guarantees on not changing the demography of Jammu & Kashmir would go a long way in creating an “enabling environment”, Pakistan has conveyed to India, highly placed government officials told. The thaw in the India-Pakistan relationship that started with the restoration of the 2003 ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in February, through a statement by the Director Generals of Military…

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Pakistan to defers trade with India until Delhi reviews Kashmir’s Status: Shah Mehmood Qureshi

Pakistan’s cabinet on Thursday put off allowing imports of cotton and sugar from neighbouring India until Delhi reviews its 2019 move to revoke the Kashmir region’s special status, the foreign minister said. In an effort to cool local demand and prices, Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), the country’s top economic decision-making body, gave the go-ahead on Wednesday for the imports, which would have ended nearly two years of trade suspension between the nuclear-armed rivals. “It was a consensus opinion, including the prime minister, that as long as India doesn’t review…

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Peace in South Asia contingent upon resolution of Kashmir dispute; Khan writes to Modi

Pakistan Prime Minister, Imran Khan, has said that durable peace and stability in South Asia is contingent upon resolving all outstanding issues between India and Pakistan, particularly the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. Imran Khan said this while thanking the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, for his letter in which he conveyed greetings to the Pakistanis on Pakistan Day, observed on March 23. PM Imran Khan in his latest letter to Narendra Modi wrote, “The people of Pakistan also desire peaceful, cooperative relations with all neighbours, including India. We are convinced that…

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General Qamar Javed Bajwa calls for a peaceful Kashmir Resolution

Pakistan’s powerful army chief on March 18 urged for a peaceful resolution in the disputed region of Kashmir and for peace talks with archrival India, a rare conciliatory call amid a weeks-long cease-fire across the volatile territory. Unsettled disputes between the two South Asian nuclear rivals are “dragging this region back to the swamp of poverty and underdevelopment,” said Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, addressing a gathering of scholars and experts discussing national security issues at a seminar in the capital, Islamabad. There was no immediate comment from India. The disputed…

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Saudi Arabia maintains neutrality over the Kashmir Issue

Much to Pakistan’s dismay and India’s delight, Saudi Arabia maintained neutrality over the Kashmir issue, even when Islamabad is making all efforts to mend its relations with the Gulf country and is wooing it to change its stance. Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, his government has had good relations with Saudi Arabia. After the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Riyadh in October 2019, Saudi Arabia has maintained neutrality over Kashmir and backed India on cross-border terrorism, said Abhinav Pandya, a strategic analyst and the CEO…

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