General Qamar Javed Bajwa
Photographer: Farooq Naeem / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Farooq Naeem / AFP / Getty Images
Pakistan’s powerful army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has called on India to “bury the past and move forward” in the rare comments that came a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan called on New Delhi to move towards peace by resolving the issues. from the Kashmir region.
Nuclear-weapon nations fought three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947, two of them over the Himalayan region. The area is divided between the two and fully claimed by both. Their relationship has hit the biggest hurdle in recent years after a suicide attack in Indian Kashmir in February 2019 killed 40 soldiers. India has retaliated with airstrikes on alleged terrorist camps in Pakistan, which it says it operates with Islamabad’s tacit blessings. Pakistan has always denied supporting terrorist groups.
Both nations withdrew their envoys later that year after India revoked the constitutional autonomy of its Jammu-Kashmir state.
Pakistani Prime Minister Khan urges India to move towards peace
“We are ready to improve our environment, solving all our outstanding problems with our neighbors through a dialogue,” said the army chief. “But for the resumption of the peace process or a meaningful dialogue, our neighbor will have to create an enabling environment,” especially in the Kashmir part of India.
Bajwa’s comments on the Islamabad security dialogue are significant as the military, which has led Pakistan directly for about half of its history, has an oversized role in Khan’s government with contributions to foreign policy and security.
Peace overtures follow an unusual joint statement by military commanders in India and Pakistan last month, renewing vows to join in 2003 ceasefire in Kashmir.
“We have learned from the past to evolve and we are willing to move on to a new future,” Bajwa said. “However, all this is conditional on reciprocity.”