India's representative to Pakistan said Monday his country was only prepared to discuss the part of Kashmir "controlled" by Islamabad in upcoming peace talks, presenting a potential stumbling block days after the dialogue was announced. High commissioner T.C.A. Raghavan made the remarks about the "disputed" territory during a lecture in the Pakistani capital, after a breakthrough visit by India's foreign minister at which the resumption of ministerial talks was announced.
According to a joint statement, the two sides will talk about peace and security as well as territorial disputes including Kashmir. Asked where the room for negotiation lay over the Himalayan territory, Raghavan said it was India which first petitioned the United Nations to intervene when the-then princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was "invaded by Pakistani forces in 1947."
"The first application was moved by India and it was on the grounds that a part of the state, which had acceded to India, is now under the illegal occupation of the Pakistan army. "So when you say what is it that India is going to discuss or what is it discussing, it is really, if you ask most Indians, and what is our position - it is the part of that state which is still under the control of Pakistan." The remarks could create a diplomatic wrinkle for the two countries as they seek to go back to the negotiation table to undertake broad-spectrum talks for the first time since the election of prime ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif. Badar Alam, editor of Herald magazine, said: "I think it is a step back," adding that Kashmir was viewed internationally as a disputed territory. He added that given the fragile state of the dialogue, officials on both sides needed to tread "very cautiously and very carefully" to avoid a backlash.
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