Pakistani and Kashmiri Leaders Urge India to Resume Dialogue

Pakistani government officials and Kashmiri political leaders are calling for a resumption of diplomatic dialogue with India to resolve longstanding bilateral disputes. In Islamabad, Ishaq Dar, Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, and Information Minister Attaullah Tarar warned that India's unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty and the diversion of Chenab river waters violate international law and threaten Pakistan's national survival.

Simultaneously, Mirwaiz-e-Kashmir Mohammad Umar Farooq and People's Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti appealed to Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif to engage in negotiations. Farooq cited renewed U.S.-Iran relations as a precedent for reconciliation, while Mufti wrote to both leaders suggesting that resolving the Jammu and Kashmir conflict could transform the region into a regional economic hub. Mufti noted that some senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leaders have signaled support for such engagement.

These calls for peace follow a heavy military conflict in May 2025 that ended in a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. However, the push for dialogue faces internal opposition in India. BJP MLA Sunil Sharma, the Leader of Opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, condemned the calls for talks, asserting that the current decline in terrorism makes the timing inappropriate and that engagement remains the sole domain of the Government of India.