Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has reiterated the ruling government’s willingness to mend ties with its neighbours, including India. Highlighting it as one of the priorities of his government’s foreign policy, Dar mentioned about the consistent stance on improving ties with its neighbours during a briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs.“Pakistan cannot change its neighbours. Therefore, it would be better to improve relations with the existing ones,” said the Foreign Minister. Talking about relations with Afghanistan, Dar said that while Pakistan wishes to have better bilateral relations, it cannot ignore the fact that the recent attack on Chinese citizens in Pakistan was planned from across the border.
While Dar refrained from mentioning India, he has been calling for improvement of relations with the neighbouring country. His indirect hint towards willingness to de-escalate and normalise relations with India during the latest briefing is not the first time such an intent has been shared publicly. After becoming the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Dar had called on India to reopen business and trade relations through confidence-building measures and table talks.