ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday said it was fully prepared to face challenge to the conviction of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“We are fully prepared to defend the case of Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav in the International Court of Justice next year,” Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal told his weekly press briefing.

Answering a question about stalled talks between India and Pakistan, he said: “We cannot force any country to negotiate.”

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He recalled that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had written a letter to which Prime Minister Imran Khan had responded.

Later, India first agreed but in less than 24 hours withdrew its agreement. “The only way forward, which is known to Pakistan, is through dialogue, which should be uninterrupted and uninterruptible,” he remarked.

He regretted that the prime minister’s positive response to the letter of his Indian counterpart had been followed by openly hostile, belligerent statements from the Indian political and military leaderships.

“We heard the Indian Army chief speak about repetition of another so-called ‘surgical strike’ and the Indian defence minister’s statement about beheading Pakistani soldiers. The contrast between Indian aggression and boasts about beheading enemy soldiers, as a matter of pride (and which our professional armed forces find abhorrent and unprofessional even for foes), compared with Pakistan’s desire for peaceful co-existence based on mutual respect is stark evidence of the thinking of both countries.”

He said in a modern, interconnected world of today confrontation and conflict are not options and noted that only way forward is through cooperation not confrontation. “Pakistan stands by its consistent principled position of peaceful resolution of all issues, including the J&K dispute. It is up to India to respond,” he said.

The spokesman said that all member states, except India, are positive on holding of the Saarc summit in Pakistan. “As you know, India is not ready for the Saarc summit and there should be consensus of all member states for holding the summit. Since there is no consensus, chances of early holding of the Saarc Summit are not very bright.”

About opening of the Kartarpur corridor, he said dialogue was a vital element for resolving all such issues. In the absence of any dialogue, nothing can move forward.

About Indian media’s claim that India wanted to have a secret meeting with Pak­istan’s foreign minister, Dr Faisal said Pak­istan had offered to have a formal meeting between the two foreign ministers to which the Indians agreed but later backed out. “I do not know about any secret meeting.”

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2018