Pakistan wants peaceful resolution with India on all disputes: Foreign Office

Pakistan said on Friday that it wants a peaceful resolution of all disputes with India, including the Kashmir issue, and the latest ceasefire agreement was in line with Islamabad's stated position.

In a significant move to ease tension, the militaries of India and Pakistan said on Thursday that they have agreed to strictly observe all agreements on the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) and other sectors.

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“Pakistan has always maintained that we want peaceful resolution of all outstanding disputes, including the internationally recognised dispute of Jammu and Kashmir. There is no change in our principled position,” Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, the spokesman for Pakistan's Foreign Office, said during a press briefing.

“As for the outstanding issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, there is no change in Pakistan’s long held principled position,” he added.

He said Pakistan has consistently underscored the need to observe the 2003 ceasefire understanding in letter and spirit for maintenance of peace along the LoC.

“We have also maintained that escalation along the Line of Control is a threat to regional peace and security. Therefore, this development is very much in line with Pakistan’s consistent position,” he said.

“The focus of the talks of DGMOs was de-escalation along the Line of Control as per the agreed mechanisms and understandings,” he said.

The decision on the ceasefire, effective since Wednesday midnight, was taken at a meeting between the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan.

The DGMOs held discussions over the established mechanism of hotline contact and reviewed the situation along the Line of Control and all other sectors in a "free, frank and cordial atmosphere", a joint statement issued by the two countries said on Thursday.

Chaudhri claimed that there have been over 13,600 ceasefire violations by India since 2003 and in 2020 alone, there were 3,097 ceasefire violations resulting in 28 deaths and 257 injuries to the civilian population.

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Regarding the Afghan Transit Trade, he said Pakistan believes that Afghan economy needs support and in that spirit it allows the export of Afghan goods to India under the Afghan Transit Trade.

Chaudhri also said that Pakistan reaffirmed its support to Sri Lanka in the field of defence by providing training and equipment and “a new USD 50 million defence credit line facility to Sri Lanka was also announced.”

Prime Minister Khan also announced 100 scholarships in the field of medicine as part of the Pakistan-Sri Lanka Higher Education Cooperation Programme .