Imran Khan woos India
Prime Minister Imran Khan was speaking to Indian journalists in Islamabad.
He said that it was not in Pakistan’s interest to allow terror attacks from Pakistan’s
territory. Imran Khan called for India to make a fresh start during his term to
revive the dialogue process between the two countries. The talks had been
stalled on the issue of terrorism for more than a decade. Khan also spoke at
the foundation stone laying ceremony for the historic Kartarpur corridor, at
Kartarpur in Pakistan. He said that India and Pakistan must not keep focussing
on the past and that the past was for learning from, not for living in. He
expressed his sorrow over the fact that in spite of his trying to reach out to
India from the very first day of his term, he got a bad response when the
meeting at the UN was cancelled. He said that Pakistan then decided to wait for
a response until elections in India.
Khan maintained that the resolution of Kashmir remained the main concern
for Pakistan. Pakistan Information
Minister said that there are people in both India and Pakistan who don’t want normalization.
Khan referred to the “4-step formula” for the resolution of Kashmir that was
devised during the tenures of President Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh. He further said that the response in Pakistan to the corridor had been
very “positive” and he hoped that India would respond to the “consensus for
peace” which he said was shared by all stakeholders including the military in
Pakistan.
Khan said that his government hoped to promote religious tourism in the
country, and could consider other proposals for shrines such as the Sharada
Peeth in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, Katasraj temple in Sindh as well as a
recently discovered Buddha statue near Islamabad.
How did the Indians respond to all that Khan uttered? Indians ask, “What
is there to talk about Kashmir? Pakistan just has to accept that Kashmir is
integral part of India and move on. If it does that, things will automatically
return to normal very soon. Jammu & Kashmir is one of the states in
India.Why should Pakistan or any other country want to discuss about it?”
The Indians ask Khan the following questions: Are you ready to act
against the Mumbai attack organisers and supporters especially those in ISI?
Are you ready to act against D-Gang? Are you ready to return to India the
occupied territories? Are you ready to vacate Chitral which did not have a
Muslim Majority population at the time of partition? Are you ready to hold
accountable those people who are responsible for atrocities committed in
Baluchistan?
India appreciates Imran Khan’s quest for peace, but remember Prime
Minister Modi showed the same enthusiasm when he got elected to be the PM and
visited PM Nawaz Sharif. India is unable to trust Pakistan. Whenever India
gives an olive branch, immediately we get a Kargil, or 26/11 or parliament
attack or air force base attack etc. India can’t believe Pakistanis until they
get out of their military and ISI controlled Governments.
What Indians should consider is the fact that war and killing has not
helped India and Pakistan. Imran Khan is new Prime Minister, who is trying his
best to start a new peace process. He is aware of the fact that some of his
predecessors had got killed for trying to talk peace with India. All the
terrorists in Pakistan try to gun down anyone who tries to make peace with
India. But despite all those challenges, he is bold enough to talk peace and
not cowed down by terrorists and pressure from ISI. Shouldn’t India grab this
golden oppurtunity to bring peace to Indo-Pak relationship?
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