India to discuss PoK with Pakistan: Raghavan

Islamabad, Dec 14: Ahead of the Indo-Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks next month, Indian envoy here today said his country will discuss Kashmir which is under the illegal occupation of Pakistan.

Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan T C A Raghavan, while giving a lecture here, gave a historical perspective of the Kashmir dispute.

"The first application to the UN was moved by India and it was on the grounds that a part of the state, which had acceded to India, is now under the illegal occupation of the Pakistan Army," Raghavan said.

"So when you say what is it that India is going to discuss or what is it discussing, it is really, if you ask most Indians, and what is our position -- it is the part of that state which is still under the control of Pakistan," he said during the lecture at the Centre for Security Studies, a private think-tank in the capital.

In the broader sense, he said Kashmir will be part of talks with Pakistan. Raghavan's remarks came just days after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's visit here during which she called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and met Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz. After the meetings, the two countries decided to re-engage under the 'Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue'.

The Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan and India will meet next month in Delhi to work out the details of the dialogue.

PTI