Moscow - Saba:
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a letter, asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for help in settling the dispute with India.
This was announced by Syed Tariq Fatemi, Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister, on Wednesday during the Valdai Discussion Forum.
Fatemi said: "Neighbors cannot live in a situation where they are ready to start a war at any moment. We have dispatched important figures to several countries—to the United States, Russia, and the European Union—showing our readiness to listen to any proposal from any country, from the United Nations, or from neutral countries between India and Pakistan. We are ready to sit with them and let them resolve the issue."
The Pakistani official noted that he met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and delivered "a message from our prime minister and an appeal to His Excellency Mr. Putin. We have asked all these countries to use their influence so that India and Pakistan sit at the negotiating table and reach a peace agreement." Fatemi noted that Pakistan is awaiting any initiative from Russia that would reduce tensions in relations with India.
He said, "We are here to see Russia's support for any initiative that would reduce tensions. Pakistan and India must come to the negotiating table."
Indian-Pakistani relations deteriorated after the April 22 attack in Pahalgam (Jammu and Kashmir, India). On the night of May 7, the Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindur, claiming to have "targeted nine terrorist-related targets in Pakistan and its part of Kashmir."
The Pakistani army responded. On May 10, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire and to consider reducing troop numbers on the border.
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