Pakistan's Interim Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani on Wednesday said that Islamabad was keen to have peaceful neighborly relations with New Delhi.
"Pakistan desires peaceful and cooperative neighborly ties with India," Jilani said on the sidelines of a public event in New York, where he will attend the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly which began on Tuesday.
This is the second time in recent months that Pakistan has spoken about having peaceful relations with India.
Earlier, former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif proposed to hold discussions with the Indian leadership on the Kashmir issue.
Talks and Terror Can't Go Together
However, Sharif's remarks were not received with much enthusiasm in India, with the country's External Affairs Ministry (MEA) once again emphasizing on its previous line that "talks and terror" cannot go together.
"India's clear and consistent position on this is well-known. We desire normal neighborly relations with all our neighbors, including Pakistan. For this, an environment free of terror and hostility is imperative," MEA spokesman Arindam Bagchi noted at the time.
Meanwhile, geopolitical experts pointed out that Pakistan's proposal to hold talks with the Indian government was not serious as Islamabad had not addressed New Delhi's concerns regarding the dismantling of terror infrastructure in Pakistan.
Pakistan Not Addressing India's Concerns
According to some media reports, terrorist organizations like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) are based in Pakistan.
Such organizations have carried out multiple attacks on Indian establishments. Investigations have found that people associated with the LeT planned and executed the terrorist attacks in 2008 which killed over 166 and injured more than 300.
In this context, ex-Indian diplomat Anil Trigunayat mentioned that normalization of relations between the two nations could only take place "if Pakistan stopped its support of terrorist proxies" that target Indian interests in the region.
"We have also seen various leaders and political and economic experts in Pakistan praising India's achievements and leadership. Hence, common sense says that they should make genuine overtures and address India's concerns for any normalization to take place," Trigunayat said.