Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday reiterated that the whole of South Asia has become hostage to the Kashmir issue. Imran also added that he saw no scope of holding any meaningful dialogue with the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government because of its "religious nationalism". Khan also said several problems like climate change can be effectively tackled only if India and Pakistan agree to work together.
Key Points:
1. "Meaningful negotiations with India are impossible as long as the government there is inspired by this ideology," said Imran Khan." I hope someday India could have a rational government with which resolution of disputes could be sought through logical and sane discussions," he added.
2. The Pakistan PM said that India and Pakistan have been fighting against each other for decades but once these issues are resolved, both countries could jointly fight against the menace of terrorism and climate change. “We hope there will be such a government in India that we can sit with at the table and solve the Kashmir problem, and then jointly we can fight several things, such as the pollution in Lahore. See the satellite images – they show a pollution cover over Delhi and [Pakistan’s] Punjab,” Khan said.
3. He also said that Pakistan's decision to choose peace has made India think that they are weak. Khan further said that countries who try solving regional disputes through war are gravely mistaken. Referring to India, Khan said, that India is either too proud of its weapons or unware of history and that the country certainly has no consideration for humanity.
4. “It is with regret I have to say that we tried our best to have talks with India, I called [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi. Despite all the overtures we made, I slowly realized that he thought this was our weakness. There was some other reaction to all our efforts for peace, they were thinking Pakistan is making efforts for peace since it is very weak,” he said.
5. Extremist approach of confrontation to major regional power will only cause new rivalries and push the world again into bloc politics, Khan said. "A new Cold War seems to be taking shape," he added.
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6. “Our problem is only Kashmir and that problem can’t be resolved through guns and bombs. It can be resolved only through dialogue, and its solution is political dialogue...Whatever India is trying through the use of guns, strong-arm tactics, and repression of Kashmiris will never succeed,” Khan said in his speech.
There was no immediate response to Khan’s remarks from the Indian side.
