Omar for resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue

Tribune News Service

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Jammu, August 28

Amid reports of end to the Doklam standoff, National Conference working president Omar Abdullah today strongly pitched for generating a conducive atmosphere to restart Indo-Pak dialogue. He said if India and China could talk then why not New Delhi and Islamabad.

“Both India and Pakistan will have to make a new beginning to recreate mutual trust and understanding, which is imperative for talks,” Omar said in Mendhar, close to the Line of Control, during the second leg of his five-day tour of the Poonch-Rajouri belt.

He said the NC was consistent in its stand on thaw in the Indo-Pak relations, primarily for welfare and well-being of the border dwellers and overall peace in the region.

He said there had been no return to firearms between India and China despite over two-month-long standoff in Doklam but the border with Pakistan was roaring with shells, making residents of the forward areas vulnerable. In this context, Omar referred to Sunday’s shelling in which three persons sustained injuries. “It is the border dwellers of Jammu and Kashmir who are facing the brunt of shelling, firing and frequent truce violations,” he said.

Invoking former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Omar said his golden words that friends could be changed but not the neighbours remained relevant in the subcontinent, which needs to shed the baggage of the past and start a new era of trust, understanding and eventually friendship.