Islamabad: Pakistan’s Premier Imran Khan has said he believes there may be a better chance of peace talks with India and settle the Kashmir issue if Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party BJP wins the general elections. India will go to elections in seven phases beginning from Thursday.
“Perhaps if the BJP… wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached,” Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in an interview. He said other parties would be afraid of right-wing backlash in case of settlement on the Kashmir issue.
Khan said Kashmir was the central issue between the two countries. India maintains that the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country and Pakistan is in illegal occupation of a part of the state’s territory.
The relations between two countries got severely strained after the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed by the JeM. India has always claimed that JeM is operating out of Pakistan.
Khan has said that Pakistan was taking action against all militants groups including the JeM. He informed the journalists that groups like the JeM were being disarmed under a serious drive to eliminate militancy from Pakistan.
“We have taken the religious schools of these groups under state control. It is first serious effort to disarm the militant outfits,” Khan informed.
Khan said action was taken because it was important for the future of Pakistan. He also rejected the impression that Pakistan was compelled by the world to taken such preventive measures against various terrorist groups.
PTI
