Peace process may make some headway before polls in India: Pakistan

Islamabad: Pakistan today said that though the full Indo-Pak composite dialogue may not start before the general elections in India, peace process will make some headway. Advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security, Sartaj Aziz said initiative has been taken to improve relations with India. Tensions prevailed due to some incidents on the LOC but now situation has stabilised. The DGMOs of the two countries have met and peace is restored, he said. [caption id=“attachment_1318263” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP image[/caption] In an interview to state-run Radio Pakistan, Aziz said full composite dialogue may not be started before elections in India but hoped that some groups will meet and peace process will make headway to some extent. He said peaceful neighbourhood is the first priority of the country’s foreign policy and sufficient progress has been made in this direction. Aziz said without peaceful neighbourhood, Pakistan cannot achieve agenda of economic development. He said to achieve these objectives “some basic changes has been made in the foreign policy during the last six months”. He said tension in the past two years with Afghanistan has ended and bilateral relations including economic and trade have improved. Referring to process of Afghan reconciliation, he said Pakistan was extending its help in this regard. However, Pakistan is pursuing a policy of non-interference and no favourite. Pakistan wants Afghanistan to resolve its problems itself, he said. Referring to relations with the US, Aziz said some misunderstandings were created during the last two years. He said relations between the two countries were being taken in the context of Afghanistan. But now we are establishing independent relations with US and trade and economic relations are the most important, Aziz stressed. He said strategic dialogue process has revived which was ended after 2010 adding relations with the US is improving. Replying to a query, he said that in contrast to previous government, the PML-N Government has taken a clear stand on drone attacks and it is getting international support in this regard. He said drone attacks are counter-productive and violative of Pakistan’s sovereignty. PTI