‘We want brotherhood, but…’: Farooq Abdullah calls for revival of ties with Pakistan | India News – Times of India

Farooq Abdullahchief of the National Conference The party that came to power in the recently concluded elections in Jammu and Kashmir has been strongly committed to rebuilding ties between India and Pakistan, which have fallen to their lowest levels since independence.
The National Conference chief on Friday said India should have good relations with all its neighbors and called New Delhi the “elder brother” of the neighboring countries.
“It is not our job, it is the Center’s job (to decide whether to initiate talks with Pakistan or not). We want brotherhood. We must have good relations with all our neighbors,” Farooq Abdullah told news agency ANI.
Abdullah also said India should revive the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), which has been suspended since 2017.
“I hope the Indian government will restart Saarc so that we can live happily. We are the elder brother of these countries,” Abdullah added.
In March this year, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had said that Saarc was in trouble because one of its members continued to take violent action against other members, in an apparent reference to Pakistan, which has notoriously violated ceasefire agreements and infiltrated along the Indian Ocean has organized. Pak border with the help of its intelligence wing Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Abdullah’s statement comes at a time when Jaishankar will visit Pakistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting scheduled for October 15 and 16.
Jaishankar’s visit to Islamabad will be the first by a foreign minister to Pakistan since his predecessor Sushma Swaraj traveled to the country for a multilateral event.
However, Swaraj had an understanding with her counterpart and agreed to resume the dialogue process.
Jaishankar has made it clear that he had no such intentions as he once again accused Pakistan of sponsorship cross-border terrorism and to prevent the Saarc Summit process from moving forward.