Pakistan army chief Gen Bajwa seeks India, Pak, China trilateral

New Delhi, April 2

Pakistan army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa has called for keeping “the flames of fire away from region’’ by peacefully settling all issues with India through dialogue and holding a trilateral between India, Pakistan and China.

“With one-third of the world in the Gulf and elsewhere involved in some sort of conflict and war, it is important that we keep the flames of fire away from our region,” he said at the Islamabad Security Dialogue on Saturday.

Bajwa’s statement comes a day before Pakistan PM Imran Khan faces a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly. A few days back, Khan had said he did not want a foreign policy that promoted enmity with any nation. “An independent foreign policy is one which is meant for Pakistanis. It doesn’t mean we are anyone’s enemies. It doesn’t mean we will be anti-Americans, anti-India or anti-European,” he had said, adding that the “world respects the passport of India’’.

Gen Bajwa called upon the political leadership of the region to “rise above emotional and perceptual biases and break the shackles of history” to usher in peace and prosperity. On the Indian missile ‘misfire’, he said, “We expect India to provide evidence to assure Pakistan and the world that their weapons are safe and secure. This is the first time in history that a supersonic cruise missile from one nuclear-armed nation has landed in another.”