HYDERABAD, (India): (Bernama) Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday (Aug 31) held separate talks with the prime ministers of Pakistan and India, with the West Asia conflict and diplomatic efforts to restore regional peace taking centre stage.
The meetings with Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif and India’s Narendra Modi were held on the sidelines of the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Pakistan, which has been mediating in the US-Iran conflict, reaffirmed its commitment to regional peace, while India reiterated its call for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the crisis.
"Both leaders also exchanged views on the evolving regional situation,” the Pakistani government said in a statement following the Pezeshkian-Shehbaz meeting.
Pakistan reaffirmed that it would continue its efforts for regional peace, noting that the Aug 24 visit to Tehran by its Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and his engagements with the Iranian leadership "augured well in this regard”.
Shehbaz emphasised "the importance of restraint and sustained diplomatic engagement” and underscored the terms agreed under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed by Iran and the US in June, as offering "the only viable pathway towards enduring peace in the region”.
Senior Pakistani and Iranian officials have held several meetings to strengthen bilateral relations and advance ceasefire efforts since Israel and the US launched a war on Iran on Feb 28. Pezeshkian’s meeting with Modi, meanwhile, was their first since the war erupted.
"The two leaders discussed bilateral ties. They also discussed the recent developments in the West Asia conflict and shared perspectives on the evolving situation,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Modi expressed concern at the escalation of tensions in the region and reiterated India's consistent position that all issues must be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy, it added. - Bernama
