Sooner or later, India will heed to proposals for talks: Nawaz Sharif

Islamabad, Oct 4: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday said that sooner or later India will have to come round to his "practical and reasonable" suggestions that call for resolution of all outstanding issues through dialogue.

Sharif alleged that "India's involvement in terrorism-related incidents in Pakistan is a serious matter" and his government has "credible evidence" in this regard which has been shared with the world during the United Nations General Assembly session in New York.

"The proxy war against Pakistan must stop because it does not serve anyone's purpose and will not lead to anything good," he told reporters here before leaving for Pakistan.

He had reached London after addressing the UNGA.

He said Pakistan has given only "reasonable and practical suggestions" to India at the UN to move forward, Geo News reported.

At the UNGA, Sharif on Wednesday proposed a 4-point "peace initiative" with India which includes demilitarisation of Kashmir and "unconditional and mutual withdrawal" of forces from Siachen.

He said the two countries need to adopt a balanced approach on all issues as hostility spread over nearly 70 years has not produced any positive results.

Asking India to give up its "belligerent policies", Sharif said, "Sooner or later India will have to come round to the Pakistani point of view which calls for resolution of all issues through dialogue."

Responding to Sharif's remarks on Indo-Pak relations at the UNGA, India had said that instead of the four-point peace initiative proposed by him, Pakistan should address just "one issue" of giving up terrorism.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in her address at the UNGA had made it clear that terrorism emanating from Pakistan is hampering normalisation of bilateral ties as she underlined that "talks and terror cannot go together".

Earlier, Sharif's National Security and Foreign Affairs Advisor Sartaj Aziz said in New York that it was regrettable that instead of responding to Pakistan's goodwill gesture, India was "interfering" in its internal matters.

Speaking at the Annual Coordination Meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Foreign Ministers here yesterday, he said Kashmir was among the oldest unresolved international disputes at the UN forum.

Pakistan army chief Gen Raheel Sharif, addressing a think-tank on defence and security in London, said the Kashmir issue is an unfinished agenda of partition of the sub-continent and the world community must come forward to help resolve the longstanding issue if it wants genuine peace in the region.

PTI