Two letters sent by Pakistan, after the Modi government came back to power, shows the sheer desperation of Imran Khan and his team, who are finding themselves helpless amidst global diplomatic pressure and deteriorating economic crisis at home.
Just a week after seasoned diplomat, S Jaishankar, took over as the new Minister of External Affairs, Pakistan had sent a letter stating that Islamabad would want to hold talks with New Delhi on ‘all important matters’. In the congratulatory letter to the MEA, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had said that his country is committed towards establishing peace in the region. In his letter, Qureshi said “Islamabad wants to hold talks with New Delhi on all important matters…remains committed to all efforts to establish peace in the region”, PTI quoted The Express Tribune as saying.
Subsequently, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating the same requests as Qureshi wrote to Jaishankar, also mentioning Kashmir. In his letter to Narendra Modi, congratulating him on his second term as the Prime Minister of India, Imran Khan said talks between the two nations were the only solution to help both countries’ people overcome poverty. Khan said Pakistan desires the resolution of all problems, including that of the Kashmir issue, as per Geo TV reports. However, India has rejected Pakistan’s offer of talks, maintaining that terror and talks cannot go together and said that no bilateral meeting has been planned between the two premiers on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO) in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek on June 13-14. Meanwhile, the White House has said Pakistan should take it on itself to resolve the tension between India and Pakistan.
The new peace overtures from the Imran Khan government after the re-election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, comes months afterthe Pulwama attack on February 14 by Pakistan-based terrorist group Jammat-ud-Dawa (JuD), killing 44 CRPF jawans. Ten days later, India had launched massive airstrikes in Pakistan territory and bombed terror havens in Pakistan’s Balakot, destroying the JuD’s training camps. The airstrike and subsequent developments gave a massive blow to Pakistan diplomatically.