Pakistan embraces India dialogue push

Pakistan’s Foreign Office used its weekly briefing on May 14 to cast Islamabad as publicly open to renewed contact with India after months of confrontation. Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said voices inside India calling for talks were a “positive development” and repeated that Pakistan believed “constructive partnerships and sincere dialogue” were necessary for peace and security. He paired that message with a rejection of what he called “war-mongering” from India over the past year. In the same briefing, Andrabi said Pakistan would keep trying to reduce U.S.-Iran tensions and said ties with the United Arab Emirates remained intact. ### Which Indian remarks was Pakistan responding to? Dattatreya Hosabale, the secretary-general of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, said this week that there should remain “a window for dialogue with Pakistan,” according to Arab News and other regional reports. Pakistan Today also said Andrabi was asked about comments by former Indian army chief Manoj Naravane and senior RSS figures favoring open channels with Islamabad. Tahir Andrabi said at the Islamabad briefing that “the voices within India calling for dialogue are obviously a positive development.” Radio Pakistan, citing the same briefing, said he added that Pakistan hoped “sanity will prevail in India.” ### What exactly did Pakistan say about India? May 14 was the clearest recent public formulation from Islamabad that it wanted to emphasize dialogue rather than escalation. (arabnews.com) Radio Pakistan quoted Andrabi as saying Pakistan believed “constructive partnerships and sincere dialogue are essential to advancing peace, security, and shared prosperity for all.” Andrabi also said he hoped “the war-mongering, the belligerence” from India would “fade away and pave the way for more such voices to come up,” according to Arab News and Radio Pakistan. Pakistan Today reported that he described the Indian calls for engagement as a “positive development” during the weekly Foreign Office briefing. ### What backdrop did these remarks come against? (radio.gov.pk) Pakistan Today said the comments came after relations worsened following the April 2025 attack in Pahalgam in Kashmir, which India blamed on Pakistan and Islamabad denied. The same report said India later suspended the Indus Waters Treaty and launched strikes inside Pakistan on May 6, before a U.S.-brokered ceasefire was reached on May 10. (arabnews.com) Arab News described the fighting last year as a brief but fierce conflict in which the two countries exchanged fighter jets, missiles, drones and artillery before agreeing to the ceasefire on May 10. Pakistan’s latest language did not include any announcement of new bilateral talks or a disclosed back channel. ### Did Pakistan say talks with India had already started? Backchannel contacts were not confirmed by Islamabad. (pakistantoday.com.pk) Pakistan Today reported that Andrabi declined to comment directly on reports of possible backchannel diplomacy, saying such channels, by nature, remained confidential. Arab News quoted him saying, “If I were to comment on it, there would be no back-channel.” (arabnews.com) Radio Pakistan said Andrabi told reporters Pakistan would look for an “official reaction” from India to the voices now calling for talks. That left Pakistan’s public position at welcoming Indian commentary rather than announcing a formal diplomatic process. ### Why did the same briefing range beyond India? The May 14 briefing also addressed Pakistan’s contacts over the U.S.-Iran crisis. (pakistantoday.com.pk) SUCH TV reported that Andrabi said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had spoken with the leaders of Qatar and Azerbaijan, while Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar remained in contact with counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, Austria and Singapore. (radio.gov.pk) Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry website separately said Ishaq Dar had reiterated that Pakistan was facilitating Iran-U.S. talks “for achieving peace and stability in the region and beyond.” Andrabi also rejected a CBS report about Iranian aircraft in Pakistan as “misleading and sensationalized,” according to Radio Pakistan and SUCH TV. ### What did Pakistan say about the UAE? SUCH TV reported that Andrabi said Pakistan’s defense relations with Gulf states rested on “institutional frameworks and long-term policy considerations” and would not be altered by a single visit or regional event. (suchtv.pk) The same report said he described deportation figures from the UAE as exaggerated and cited an interior ministry review calling some reports “mala fide.” (mofa.gov.pk) The next public marker is likely Pakistan’s next weekly Foreign Office briefing, where any official Indian response, further U.S.-Iran mediation contacts, or clarification on Gulf ties would be expected to surface first. (suchtv.pk)