After illegally annexing Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, India has tried to introduce a “new normal” with Pakistan and approached it for dialogue on this new stance twice during the past one year through friendly countries. Islamabad reiterates that there will be no discussion without Kashmir.
Pakistani Prime Minister’s Special Advisor on National Security, Moeed Yusuf confirmed yesterday in an interview with the Indian news organisation The Wire that India had sent ‘messages for conversation’ to it after abolishing Article 370 in Kashmir.
For India, the ‘new normal’ mean discussing all bilateral issues except Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. In response Pakistan told all intermediaries that it has not changed its position on Kashmir and that Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir has legal and historic merit.
While speaking to The Wire Moeed Yusuf said Kashmiris must be a third party at these talks as the constitutional changes of August 2019 are “not an internal matter”, adding that they were a matter for the UN. He said India has to release all political prisoners in Kashmir, lift ‘inhuman’ blockade and restrictions, withdraw domicile law that allows non-Kashmiris to settle in the Indian occupied Kashmir, stop human rights abuses and end state terrorism in Pakistan.
In May 2020, A senior American diplomat Alice Wells said the United States wants India and Pakistan to restore a mutual truce in Kashmir to de-escalate tensions over the disputed Himalayan region.
In September 2019 The President of United States President Donald Trump, had reiterated an offer to mediate between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir, emphasising the need to resolve the dispute.
