Beyond ceasefire alongside LoC: Pakistan alerts statehood in J&Ok key to motion ahead

Pakistan has conveyed to India that the February 25 renewal of the 2003 ceasefire alongside the Line of Control can result in a wider engagement provided that and when Delhi restores statehood to Jammu & Kashmir as a “starting point” for a dialogue on the decision of the Kashmir challenge, The Indian Express has learnt.
The joint assertion issued by the Directors General of Military Operations doesn’t replicate any change within the Pakistani place that Kashmir is a “dispute” and that its decision is anchored by the United Nations Security Council resolutions, mentioned authoritative sources in Pakistan who didn’t want to be recognized.
Moreover, they added, the assertion under no circumstances implies the acceptance of the Indian “narrative” of a “deal” on Kashmir.
In a primary indication of how Pakistan views relations with India after the ceasefire, and the hole in positions between the 2 sides, these sources indicated that for any wider engagement, India should create an “enabling environment” by restoring statehood to J&Ok.

This, they mentioned, would then facilitate “a conversation” that would come with “Kashmiri voices front and centre” on the best way ahead and open up house doubtlessly for discussions on different bilateral points.
The sources rejected what they known as the “narrative” in India that the DGMO settlement was an indication of Pakistan’s “desperation” and “weakness”, or the notion that it might be utilized by India to sign to the world that “Pakistan and India are talking and everything is fine, or to tell people in (Kashmir) that there is some underhand deal and that Kashmir is done and dusted”.
For its half, Delhi has signalled that if the ceasefire holds and no terrorist incidents happen that might be traced again to Pakistan, wider normalisation of ties might observe.

At the identical time, it has careworn that restoration of J&Ok statehood is an assurance underlined a number of occasions within the Lok Sabha by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and there may be little to debate past that.
In Pakistan’s view, the ceasefire was one thing it had “talked about publicly” for practically two years. It had been on the desk, and for “whatever reasons”, India was reluctant all this time, and for “whatever reasons”, it had agreed now, the sources in Pakistan mentioned.
They additionally careworn that the settlement was purely for tactical causes due to the state of affairs on the LoC — “at the end of the day, only innocent people were dying, and it was not going to change anything on the ground” — and to hyperlink it to some “grand plan” wherein this was step one was “incorrect”.
The “entire Pakistan system” – the Prime Minister, the Army chief, the Foreign ministry, the Special Representative on National Security – was on board the concept if the settlement opened up areas for wider engagement, Pakistan can be “willing to engage”, as a result of it views peace with India as a pre-requisite for its personal financial stability now on the core of its concept of nationwide safety, the sources mentioned.