Pakistan on Thursday said it would like to have good relations with all its neighbours, including India, but this must be “based on respect and equality”, adding that Kashmir will always be a priority for Islamabad.

Responding to questions at the weekly briefing on relations with India under the new regime, foreign ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said: “We have always said Pakistan would like to have good relations with all its neighbours, including India. However, these relations must be based on respect and equality. It is also important that issues of concern to Pakistan, including the support for terrorism, and extrajudicial and extraterritorial killings by India in Pakistan. Kashmir will always be a priority when such engagement takes place.”

Most of the questions were in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulating his Pakistani counterpart Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday on his election to the post of Prime Minister. Sharif responded with thanks on X, keeping the message as short and perfunctory as Modi.

In his message, Modi said: “Congratulation to @CMShehbaz on being sworn in as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.” Sharif’s response was: “Thank you @narendramodi for felicitations on my election as the Prime Minister of Pakistan.”

On whether there would be a thaw in India ties — which have remained in limbo since 2019 after Pakistan unilaterally downgraded it in response to India’s decision to change the constitutional contours of Jammu & Kashmir — Baloch said this can be answered after the new cabinet is in place.

“As you know, the cabinet formation is yet to take place and once the cabinet is in place, we will have a direction with regard to the foreign policy and Pakistan’s relations with other countries, including its neighbours. We would then be in a better position to respond to queries on how this will impact Pakistan’s interaction with India in the coming days.”

On Modi’s visit to Kashmir, she said it seems to be part of India’s efforts to portray normalcy. “We believe that these efforts to project normalcy are a facade and tourism cannot be promoted in a situation where local people are being intimidated and their rights and freedoms are being denied.”