GILGIT: Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto said today [May 13] he welcomed India’s offer to normalise relations with Pakistan, but declared there will be no compromise on … Kashmir. Addressing troops … in the northern areas, he disclosed that recently the Indian Premier sent a message through some countries friendly to Pakistan that India desires friendly relations with Pakistan. … [He] said: Let this message reach India: “Your (Indian) delegation is now in Islamabad and as you want to be friendly to us we also [would] like to be friends with you. Diplomatic relations were there before … and these will be restored; trade we used to carry on before and it has now been resumed and overflights between India and Pakistan … now will restart.”

However … one thing should be clear. “On the Kashmir issue, whatever message we receive from any friendly country, or whatever pressure any country may put on us, there will never be any surrender of the basic principles. …” — Staff correspondent

[Meanwhile, as reported by the staff reporter,] Mr Mohammad Shoaib, a former Finance Minister of Pakistan and a Senior Vice-President of the World Bank, passed away yesterday [May 13] in Washington.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2026