"Willing to hold talks with India on Kashmir issue": Pakistan PM Sharif

As tensions persist between India and Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed willingness to engage in talks with India for peace, saying that talks should be held on the Kashmir issue, The Express Tribune reported.

The appeal comes days after India targeted nine terror sites in Pakistan and inflicted damage to several of its airfields under Operation Sindoor.

He extended the offer to India while interacting with the Pakistan Air Force pilots and personnel during a special visit to Kamra air base on Thursday. He said Pakistan was willing to hold talks to achieve peace, but it had certain conditions, urging India to hold talks on the Kashmir issue.

India has maintained that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are and will always remain an "integral and inalienable part of it."

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated that any future discussions will be confined to terrorism and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

In his address to the nation following Operation Sindoor, PM Modi said, "I would also like to tell the global community that our stated policy has been: if there are talks with Pakistan, it will be only on terrorism; and if there are talks with Pakistan, it will be only on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)."

PM Modi warned that Pakistan's support to terrorism could lead to its downfall. He added that achieving peace is impossible without destroying the terrorist infrastructure.

"The way the Pakistani army and the Pakistan government are encouraging terrorism, it will destroy Pakistan one day. If Pakistan wants to survive, it will have to destroy its terror infrastructure. There is no other way to peace," he added.

Tensions between India and Pakistan rose following the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, which claimed the lives of 26 people and injured several others. In response to the Pahalgam terrorist attack, Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of May 7, targeting nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), leading to the death of over 100 terrorists affiliated with terror outfits like the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM).

Following the attack, Pakistan retaliated with cross-border shelling across the Line of Control and Jammu and Kashmir as well as attempted drone attacks along the border regions, following which India launched a coordinated attack and damaged radar infrastructure, communication centres and airfields across airbases in Pakistan. On May 10, India and Pakistan reached an understanding on the cessation of hostilities.