Pakistan PM Imran Khan calls for dialogue over Kashmir issue

In a tweet, Khan criticised what he called the “new cycle of killings of innocent Kashmiris” and repeated his stance that the solution to the issue lay in dialogue

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday condemned what he described as a “new cycle of killings” in Kashmir and said the solution to the “Kashmir dispute” lay in dialogue.

The Indian ministry of external affairs said Imran Khan’s comments were “deeply regrettable”. (AP File Photo)

Khan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party is keen to make progress in relations with India and other neighbours, but, in India’s case, wants to do this without altering its rigid stance on Kashmir, say analysts. The lack of dialogue between the two countries comes at a time when Pakistan is facing diplomatic isolation from neighbours and a cold shoulder from allies such as Saudi Arabia, who have turned down requests to help Islamabad tide over its economic problems.

In a tweet, Khan criticised what he called the “new cycle of killings of innocent Kashmiris” and repeated his stance that the solution to the issue lay in dialogue. “It is time India realised [that] it must move to resolve the Kashmir dispute through dialogue in accordance with the UNSC resolutions and the wishes of the Kashmiri people.”

“Instead of making comments on India’s internal affairs, Pakistan leadership should look inwards and address its own issues. Pakistan would serve the interest of the people of the region by taking credible action against all kind of support to terrorism and terror infrastructure from all territories under its control... Pakistan’s deceitful stand on dialogue, while supporting terror and violence, stands exposed to the whole world,” said spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.

Foreign policy analysts said the Pakistan premier is trying again to reach out to India for some sort of dialogue. “He is under pressure from a number of quarters and he wants to show some achievement,” commented analyst Aga Hilali.

Hilali said there were high expectations from the Imran Khan government on the foreign policy front. “Instead there has been disappointment.”

In September, India called off a meeting scheduled between Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and India’s external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj that was to take place in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.

The Indian foreign ministry said the talks were called off after the “latest brutal killings of our security personnel by Pakistan-based entities and the recent release of a series of twenty postage stamps by Pakistan glorifying a terrorist and terrorism”.

In a statement released on Monday, Qureshi’s office said “the international community needs to take swift action against human rights violations” in Kashmir.

Khan is set to travel to Saudi Arabia to take part in the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh. This forum is being widely boycotted by international leaders following the murder of the Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.

In a meeting with the foreign media on Monday, Khan said, “What happened in Turkey is just shocking, what can I say? It’s shocked all of us.

“But that aside, the reason I have to take this opportunity is because we are country of 210 million people and we have the worst debt crisis in our history.”

Khan told foreign journalists: “We are desperate for money. Unless we get loans from friendly countries or IMF, we actually won’t have foreign exchange to either service our debts or to pay for our imports. Unless we get loans, or investment from abroad, we’ll have real, real problems.”