Talks with India only after it ‘reverses’ decision on Kashmir: Imran
Team Udayavani, Aug 31, 2019, 10:28 AM IST
Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that talks with India can happen only if New Delhi “reverses” its decision on revoking Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, end the restrictions and withdraws its troops to the barracks.
In an opinion piece in The New York Times on Thursday, Khan again warns that if the world does nothing to stop India’s decision on Kashmir, the two nuclear-armed countries will get ever closer to a “direct military confrontation.”
Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after India abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories.
Reacting to India’s decision, Pakistan expelled the Indian High Commissioner after it downgraded the diplomatic ties with New Delhi.
“On Kashmir, the dialogue must include all stakeholders, especially the Kashmiris,” Khan says.
“But dialogue can start only when India reverses its illegal annexation of Kashmir, ends the curfew and lockdown, and withdraws its troops to the barracks,” he says.
Asserting that abrogation of Article 370 was its internal matter, India has strongly criticised Pakistan for making “irresponsible statements” and provocative anti-India rhetoric over issues internal to it.
Khan says that when he was elected prime minister last August, one of his foremost priorities was to work for lasting and just peace in South Asia.
But he says that all his efforts to start a dialogue for peace were “rebuffed” by India.
India has not been engaging with Pakistan since an attack on the Air Force base at Pathankot in January of 2016 by Pakistan-based terrorists, maintaining that talks and terror cannot go together.
With his efforts to internationalise Kashmir not gaining traction, Khan has been repeatedly trying to project a panic situation by raising the possibility of a military confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
“With the nuclear shadow hovering over South Asia, we realise that Pakistan and India have to move out of a zero-sum mind-set to begin dialogue on Kashmir, various strategic matters and trade,” he says.
If the world does nothing to stop India’s moves on Kashmir, he says, warning that “there will be consequences for the whole world as two nuclear-armed states get ever closer to a direct military confrontation.”
Reacting to Pakistan raising the nuclear issue frequently, the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson earlier this month noted that Islamabad would like to project a “panic situation” in South Asia.
“From their side, they would like to project a panic situation, the international community does not think there is a war like situation. It is a ploy to deflect attention,” the MEA spokesperson said in New Delhi on August 9.
Khan, in his article, also urged the international community that it is imperative that they “think beyond trade and business advantages.
Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.
Top News
Related Articles More
China says talks on Tibet only with Dalai Lama’s representatives; rules out dialogue on autonomy
Indian-origin man shot, killed by San Antonio police amid attempts to apprehend him
2 Indian restaurants in Colorado duped investors of USD 380K: Officials
WATCH: 5 runaway military horses cause mayhem in London
Don’t blame Dubai’s freak rain on cloud seeding
MUST WATCH
Latest Additions
Eminem to soon release 12th studio album ‘The Death of Slim Shady’
IAF helicopter roped in to douse forest fires in Uttarakhand
EC orders re-polling in Chamarajanagar LS segment of Karnataka
Delhi court grants bail to AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan in ED summons evasion case
IndiGo aircraft forced to return to Delhi airport Mid-Flight due to technical issue