Kashmir issue has to be settled, says Pak PM Imran Khan
Khan denied that Pakistan is allowing militant groups to operate from its territory and said no previous government had done more to clamp down on terrorist groups. However, he indicated everything depended on a solution to the Kashmir issue and if India and Pakistan can find that, everything else could be easily sorted out.
india Updated: Apr 12, 2019 08:14 ISTThe Kashmir issue “has to be settled” and “cannot keep boiling like it is” as its resolution and peace with India will be “tremendous” for the region, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said.
Khan made the remarks in an interview with the BBC, during which he also said the two neighbours could only settle their differences through dialogue.
His comments came as Indians began voting in a general election, weeks after a suicide attack in Kashmir by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed had triggered tensions.
Asked by the BBC what message he wanted to send to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India, Khan said the Kashmir issue “has to be settled” and “cannot keep boiling like it is”.
“The number one tasks of the two governments is how are we going to reduce poverty and the way we reduce poverty is by settling our differences through dialogue and there is only one difference, which is Kashmir,” he said.
Khan also spoke about the dangers of confrontation between the two countries. “Once you respond, no one can predict where it can go from there,” he said.
Referring to New Delhi’s air strike on a JeM facility at Balakot after the Pulwama suicide attack and Islamabad’s retaliatory strikes, Khan said that if India had “come back and then again attacked Pakistan, Pakistan would have no choice but to respond”.
He added, “So in that situation, two nuclear armed countries, I just felt it was very irresponsible.”
Khan denied that Pakistan is allowing militant groups to operate from its territory and said no previous government had done more to clamp down on terrorist groups. However, he indicated everything depended on a solution to the Kashmir issue and if India and Pakistan can find that, everything else could be easily sorted out.
During an interaction with foreign media earlier this week, Khan had suggested there would be a better chance of peace if Modi is re-elected. “Perhaps if the BJP —a right-wing party — wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached,” he had said.
First Published: Apr 12, 2019 08:14 IST