Formalise 2003 ceasefire agreement, stop isolating us on terror: Pak to India

New Delhi: Amid simmering tension in Indo-Pak ties, Pakistan on Monday slammed India for trying to isolate it on terrorism, saying the country has been the worst victim of the menace even as it called for sustained diplomacy to forge an "effective cooperative paradigm" to improve relations.

Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit said the issue of Jammu and Kashmir was the "root cause" of all problems between the two countries and that Pakistan does not need "misplaced jingoism and hyper-nationalism" to pursue its foreign policy objectives.

"How on earth it is possible to isolate a country on terrorism when that country itself is the worst victim of terrorism," he said.

Claiming ignorance about the Uri attacks, Basit said, “When Uri attack was underway, Pakistan was being blamed, this when we did not even know what was happening.”

The two countries need to agree to formalise the 2003 ceasefire agreement, Basit said.

He was speaking at the Indian Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies in Delhi.

It is only through sustained diplomacy that Pakistan and India can address their issues and forge an effective cooperative paradigm to their mutual benefit, he said.

Talking about his country's ties with India, he said Kashmir issue "has made us mutually antagonistic. Let its just resolution unite us in peace and prosperity."

"Pakistan is a proud country of 200 million people. It does not need misplaced jingoism and hypernationalism to pursue its foreign policy objectives," he said.

In the wake of Uri terror attack carried out by Pakistani terrorists, India has been trying to isolate Pakistan on terror internationally.