Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday made a conditional offer of resuming talks with India, saying Pakistan was ready if New Delhi, which crossed a “red-line” by revoking the autonomy of Occupied Kashmir on August 5, 2019 – restores the previous status of the occupied territory.
The Prime Minister, in an interview with the Reuters New Agency, said that he had always wanted a “civilized” and “open” relationship with India.
“It is common sense that if you want to reduce poverty in the sub-continent, the best way is to trade with each other,” he was quoted by the news agency as saying. He also referred to the example of the European Union.
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“Even if they give us a roadmap, that these are the steps that we will take to basically undo what they did, which is illegal, against international law and United Nations resolutions… then that is acceptable,” the Prime Minister was quoted by the news agency as saying.
He said that India had crossed a “red line” by revoking the autonomy of Occupied Kashmir.
“They have to come back for us to resume dialogue,” Imran Khan said, adding, “at the moment there is no response from India”.
Enough! The Indian disinfo campaign has now crossed all limits! Can we please fight back in kind?
Kashmir faces deep threat as Pakistan offers tacit support to Houston network to spread Islamic fanaticism, separatism in Valley-India News , Firstpost https://t.co/By7JDwKtIk— carin jodha fischer (@carin__fischer) June 4, 2021
About Afghanistan, the Prime Minister said that Pakistan was pushing for a political settlement in the country before foreign troops leave later this year, to reduce the risk of civil war in its western neighbor.
“There is a lot of fear right now in Pakistan and I assure you that we are trying our level best that there is some sort of political settlement before the Americans leave,” he was quoted by Reuters as saying.
“Since the moment the Americans gave a date, of when they were going to leave Afghanistan … the Taliban feel they have won the war,” Imran Khan said, adding it was not going to be easy to get concessions from the Taliban after the U.S. decision.
He said Pakistan would suffer the most, after Afghanistan itself, if there was civil war and a refugee crisis.
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“And then there would be pressure on us to jump in and become a part of it,” Imran Khan said.
“Any Afghan government chosen by the people is who Pakistan should deal with,” the Prime Minister said.
Courtesy: APP