Pakistan, India should focus on peace: Imran

LAHORE: PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday said fearless leaders didn’t hold secret meetings, adding that Pakistan was in dire need of a genuine leadership.
Speaking at South Asia Middle East Conclave, Imran said bravery and fearlessness were the characteristics of true leadership which Pakistan needed at the moment. At the same time, Imran said the genuine leadership seemed missing in India as well.
The PTI chairman stressed the need for policies formulation by Pakistan and India, which should aim at fostering peace in the region. He said both the nations should set up goals to eliminate poverty in South Asia, adding that he would have discussed the issue of poverty, which was the problem confronting both the nations, in case he was at Nawaz’ place.
He said India and Pakistan needed to resolve all core issues through dialogue and it was possible once vision was shown by both sides. He said the European nations were in the past bitter enemies of each other but they had opened their borders, but the borders in South Asia looked desolate which was unfortunate.
Imran stated that brave leaders always steered their nations out of crisis and their decisions were based on farsightedness besides having the capability of making decisions.Commenting on the alleged secrete meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narindera Modi last year at Kathmandu on the sidelines of Saarc Conference, he said rather than fearing the forces acting against peace, the leaders should act to resolve the issues. “The real test of a leader begins in the time of crisis.”
Citing the example of Nelson Mandela, the great South African leader, Imran said that he saved his nation through his bravery and vision.
He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government was making long-term policies to ensure a transparent system of accountability in the province, adding that a serving provincial minister was put behind the bar over corruption charges.
On the other hand, he said, it was nothing but a joke with democracy that politicians were displaying the photos of their grandparents to garner votes and waiting for their turns to come to power. The PML-N and PPP had resorted to match fixing, he remarked.
Imran said the names of some politicians came up in the investigation terrorism financing. Unfortunately, when exposed, these politicians joined hands and the probe came to a halt, he added.