Pakistan’s refreshing mindset, India’s fossilised, says PM

ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister Imran Khan has said consensus prevails in Pakistan on the question of developing relations with India.

At the same time, he has made it clear that the dialogue is the only way forward for Pakistan and India to move ahead on the path to peace and no other option is available for the purpose. He was talking on Friday to a group of Indian journalists who had come to report opening of the Kartarpur corridor. He regretted that Pakistan didn’t receive a positive response from India over the bilateral talks, and reminded the world that the Narendra Modi-led Indian government’s mindset was the main hurdle for the dialogue. He assured that the mindset in Pakistan has changed, but India was sticking to the old one.

The prime minister was flanked by Fawad Chaudhry and Shafqat Mahmood while Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua was available to assist the PM. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was conspicuous with his absence. Imran said no issue existed in the world that couldn’t be resolved through dialogue. He said the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor was one of the measures taken to improve bilateral ties. The people of two countries didn’t have animosity with each other since the gory incidents of 1947 didn’t have that harsh impact on the minds of people on the two sides. The people-to-people relations could be improved, he said, adding that Pakistan would continue to urge holding talks to resolve the issues between the two countries as Kashmir is the main unresolved issue between the two countries.

He said If India couldn’t come forward for talks, it should at least do something for the people of the Occupied Kashmir. India would have to respond to Pakistan's peace gestures to move forward to address the longstanding disputes as the one-sided efforts could not bear fruit. He said he approached India from the day one in office, adding that his country would take two steps if New Delhi took one to improve ties. He, however, regretted that the Indian response had so far been disappointing. He said he felt India’s lack of response to Pakistan’s outreach seemed to be governed by the electoral calculations. He reminded that there should be no pre-conditions for dialogue as it would mean there was no intention for peace.

He said the solution to the Kashmir problem was possible provided the leadership of both the countries demonstrated the will towards that end. He stressed that there would be great dividends of peace between the two countries.

He said the dispute resolution would benefit the whole subcontinent as it would open the region for trade and economic activities. The prime minister stressed that Pakistan has done its bid to push for dialogue; now the onus was on India. He warned that the two nuclear powers could not afford another war.

Pakistan wanted peace in the region. He stressed the need not to stay in the past but to learn from it. No one could make progress without learning from the past experiences. He said Pakistan has painfully suffered colossal losses both in men and material due to the war against terrorism. Terrorism wasn’t in the interest of Pakistan or India.

“I assure you that the soil of Pakistan would never be used against any other country.” He dodged questions about Hafiz Saeed and Dawood Ibrahim though Indian journalists posed such questions again and again in various forms.