Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit. — ANI photo

New Delhi, April 7

The peace process between India and Pakistan has been “suspended” and there are no talks scheduled between the two countries, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit said here on Thursday.

“As far as I know, there is no meeting scheduled between foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan yet,” Basit told reporters at a function here.His remarks have come in the background of the January 2 Pathankot air base attack and the recent visit by a Pakistan team to investigate the attack.This is the first official word from Pakistan about the latest breakdown in the now-on-now-off peace process with India.After a team of Pakistani officials visited Pathankot, New Delhi had expected Islamabad to allow a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team to visit that country to take the investigation forward.Basit ruled out the possibility.“The investigation (into the Pathankot attack) is not about reciprocity,” he said.“There shouldn’t be any doubt that Pakistan wants to have a normal and peaceful relationship with India on the basis of sovereign equality and mutual interest,” Basit said.Maintaining that “we need is to engage uninterruptedly, comprehensively and meaningfully”, the Pakistan High Commissioner said, “It is the J&K dispute that is the root cause of mutual distrust between India and Pakistan and other bilateral issues.Therefore, its fair and just resolution, as per aspirations of people of Jammu & Kashmir, is imperative, he added. “It is high time to break the carapace of complacency and dispense with self-serving approaches.”Basit also said the arrest of an alleged Indian spy, Kulbushan Jadhav, proved Islamabad’s allegations that New Delhi was causing unrest in Balochistan.Reading out a prepared statement, Basit referred to the arrest of alleged Indian spy Jadhav in Balochistan last month and said that it “irrefutably corroborates what Pakistan has been saying all along”.”We are aware of all those who seek to create unrest in Pakistan and destabilise the country. They are bound to fail.” He said Pakistan had arrested scores of terror operatives with “foreign linkages” over the past month. “The presence of such elements is quite disturbing, to say the least.” On the issue of China blocking India’s bid to ban Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar by the UN, Basit said he subscribed to the Chinese viewpoint on this. — Agencies