Analysis of the interview of Pakistan NSA Moeed Yousuf with Indian journalist Mr. Karan Thapar.
The interview was between an Indian journalist Mr. Karan Thapar and Mr. Moeed Yousaf who is national security advisor and strategic policy planning to Pakistan’s prime minister at the program Wire on Indian media. This was the first interview between India and Pakistan in 15 months (after the constitutional changes in Jammu and Kashmir on 5 august 2019). The discussion of the interview seems aggressive, from Mr. Thapar he was not ready to hear any answer rather stuck on just questioning but on the other side Mr. Moeed as a (background scholar) was calm, He answered all his questions very logically with his confident body language.
Mr. Thapar asked 3 main questions and also the future of Pak/India relations.
1. Jammu and Kashmir /Gilgit Baltistan provincial status
2. Kulbushan Yadav case
3. Mumbai attack 2008
v Firstly, Mr. Thapar had started with the question of the Kashmir issue and relate it to Gilgit-Baltistan but Mr. Moeed had tackled it very clearly, He said Kashmir is a disputed territory in the international arena, and India had removed article 370 and made demographical changes which are totally illegal. While the issue of GB is a public debate and the people of GB want to integrate with Pakistan and Mr. Moeed answered more logically that the only way to create peace in Kashmir is doing plebiscite according to the Un- Charter of self-determination.
On the second-hand Mr. Thapar's question was about the Kulbushan Yadav who was arrested in Pakistan in the act of terror. Mr. Thapar again started cleverly blaming Pakistan for not giving consular access. Mr. Moeed again tackles his question with facts and said that ICJ had given three important binding observations and Pakistan had followed them. Pakistan’s laws had a requirement that the lawyer given to kulbushan should be a Pakistani Citizen but India delayed and does not accept it.
The third and the last question raised by Mr. Thapar was related to Pakistan’s involvement in the Mumbai attack. He claimed that many of the officials had confirmed that this attack was planned in Pakistan then, why Pakistan is not investigating or punishing terrorists who planned and launched the killing operation in the Mumbai attack. Mr. Mooed on this again gave the reference of his book and said that he had researched this case and said that the American investigation team also worked on this case but failed to found any strong evidence against Pakistan.
The discussion of the interview ended with some future suggestions for Pakistan and India relations. Mr. Moeed clearly mentioned that Pakistan is a peace-loving country and working hard for the stability of the economy and trying to make good ties with India as the minister said “if India will forward one step Pakistan will forward two steps” maintaining peace in the region but unfortunately, India is going opposite. Mr. Moeed also added that the people of Kashmir should give the right of self-determination so that this issue can come to end.
