ISLAMABAD, June 12: The Foreign Office on Monday emphatically declared that it considered Kashmir dispute the core issue between Pakistan and India and said it had been acknowledged in the Simla and Tashkent agreements.

“We consider Kashmir the core dispute between Pakistan and India because of its gravity, because of its implications for the political environment, because of its implications for Pakistan-India relations and more importantly the Jammu and Kashmir dispute relates to the fundamental rights of the Kashmiris and their sufferings,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said during a weekly news briefing here on Monday.

Commenting on the BJP leader and former Indian foreign minister Yashwant Sinha’s assertion that there was no documentary evidence to prove that India had recognised Jammu and Kashmir dispute as being the core issue between Pakistan and India, she said it was a recognised dispute.

Spokesperson Aslam underlined that there was a specific reference to it in the Simla Agreement and added: “Article 6 of the Simla Agreement clearly talks about the final settlement of the Jammu and Kashmir issue, it doesn’t mention any other issue….the Tashkent Agreement also talked about Jammu and Kashmir dispute.”

Continuing on the subject she said: “Anyone who has read the history of Pakistan-India relations or has followed the conflict between our two countries cannot escape the conclusion that it is indeed the Jammu and Kashmir issue that lies at the heart of tensions between our two countries.”

Ms Aslam also discarded Mr Sinha’s claim that there had been no inquiry into the Chittisinghpura killings in Indian-occupied Kashmir that concluded militants were not involved in the incident. She said while initial-ly there were no inquiries, later on the insistence of the community that was at the receiving end a commission was established.

That Commission, she maintained, had concluded that the killings were carried out by the Indian security personnel and not by the so-called militants as was claimed.

“That report was seen by people the world over and that was referred to by many international human rights organisations,” the spokesperson said. She also pointed out that only recently some Indian security officials had gone on trial for the killings.

The spokesperson was evasive on the question of whether or not Pakistan had responded to the Indian proposals that the Foreign Office confirmed having received.

Instead she mentioned the proposals made by Pakistan and said: “Pakistan has already proposed ideas like self-governance, de-militarization and joint management and these ideas have found resonance with the Kashmiris…We can proceed further on the basis of these ideas.”

On Indian leadership’s rejection of inclusion of a third party, including the Kashmiris, in the Indo-Pakistan peace talks, the spokesperson said Pakistan’s position and preference had been that Kashmiris should be part of the process and sit at the table.

However, she added: “Since this is not acceptable to India, we are quite comfortable with Kashmiris being associated with the peace process through other means.”

Kashmiri leaders on both sides of the Line of Control were interacting with each other and the governments of Pakistan as well as India, she underscored.