‘Gen Bajwa wanted concessions from India,’ British High Commissioner to Pakistan tells New Delhi

British High Commissioner to Pakistan Christian Turner said that Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa was looking for concessions—among them, the restoration of the Article 35A of India’s Constitution, which gave the state of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir the right to designate “permanent residents” entitled to purchase land, writes Praveen Swami for The Print. The British High Commissioner was speaking at a gathering in New Delhi.

The news report further states that the Pakistan army chief believes he has helped New Delhi by controlling jihadists and thus ensuring violence in Kashmir remains at historically low levels.

“The General, in his telling of events to British interlocutors, has resisted pressure from hawks to escalate in Kashmir—among them, Prime Minister Imran Khan,” writes the news outlet.

In a report published in Dawn on April 25, 2021, it was revealed that India appro­ached Pakistan in December 2020 with an offer to reduce tension and offered backchannel talks on all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir, and Pakistan reciprocated favourably.