TAP TO UNMUTE Mani Shankar Aiyar file photo | Photo Credit: BCCL

New Delhi: Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyer has once again sparked a row by saying that dialogue as a solution to the India- Pakistan issue has been accepted as a policy by Pakistan, but not by India.

"There is only one way of resolving India-Pakistan issues and that is by uninterrupted and un-interruptable dialogue. And I am very proud and half very sad that this sentence of these three words have been accepted as Pakistan policy, but has not been accepted as Indian policy," Aiyar said at a function in Karachi.

After Mehbooba, now Mani Shankar Aiyar | Joins Mehbooba's Pro Pak lobby | Aiyar runs down India in Pak pic.twitter.com/tWfE5v9yzm — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 12, 2018

While his words were welcomed by an applause from the audience, this is not the first time Aiyar has created controversy over his speeches. During the recently concluded Gujarat campaign, he had sparked a row by calling PM Modi "neech".

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His remarks also come at a time when Pakistan sponsored terrorists have been attacking security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir. On Monday, a CRPF jawan was killed in a militant attack in J&K. On February 10-11, a group of militants stormed into an army camp in Sunjwan and killed five soldiers and a civilian.

Pakistan newspaper The Express Tribune quoted Aiyar as saying that "I love Pakistan because I love India". He further added that India should "love thy neighbour as thyself"- the report said.

The report cited Aiyar as saying that Pakistan has improved drastically in its approach to towards India, whereas the latter has improved only marginally.