Islamabad (Agencies): Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that there may be a better chance of peace talks with India if Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins the general elections.
Talking to a group of foreign journalists on Tuesday, the prime minister said that if the next Indian government were led by the opposition Congress party, it might be too scared to seek a settlement with Pakistan, fearing a backlash from the right.
PM Khan said Indian Muslims, who many years ago were happy about their situation in India, were now very worried by extreme Hindu nationalism.
He said that the Kashmir liberation movement was a political struggle and there was no military solution.
Imran Khan reiterated that Islamabad was determined to dismantle all militant groups in the country and that the government had the full support of the army for the programme.
“It is vital for Pakistan to have peaceful ties with its neighbours, Afghanistan, India and Iran to pull 100 million people out of poverty”, the PM said.
Meanwhile, in an interview with a British television channel, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that peace with India over the disputed territory of Kashmir would be “tremendous” for the wider region.
The PM said that the nuclear-armed neighbours could only settle their differences with dialogue.
When asked what message he wanted to send to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his country, the PM said that the Kashmir issue has to be settled and cannot keep boiling like it is.
He said if India had come back and then again attacked Pakistan, Pakistan would have no choice but to respond.
PM Khan said the number-one task for the two governments is how are we going to reduce poverty and the way we reduce poverty is by settling our differences through dialogue.
Regarding the case of Asia Bibi, the PM said that she would be departing the country very soon and she is safe.
He said there is little bit complication and he could not discuss it on media.
Earlier on Tuesday, PM Imran Khan tweeted leaders in Israel and India were showing a moral bankruptcy in their readiness to annex occupied West Bank and Indian occupied Kashmir.
He questioned why their people do not feel a sense of outrage and wonder how far they will go simply to win an election.