WEB DESK
In his first direct comments on Indo-Pak ties since taking oath as Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan Tuesday expressed willingness to re-start the stalled India-Pakistan peace process and said the two countries must engage in dialogue to resolve their differences, including on the Kashmir issue, and start trade.
In his first direct comments on Indo-Pak ties since taking oath as Prime Minister last Saturday, Khan said the best way to alleviate poverty and uplift the people of the subcontinent was to resolve the differences through dialogue and start trading.
“To move forward Pakistan and India must dialogue and resolve their conflicts including Kashmir,” Khan tweeted separately in both English and Urdu.
مستقبل کی جانب پیش قدمی کیلئے ہندوستان اور پاکستان کو مذاکرات کرنا ہوں گے اور کمشیر سمیت تمام تصفیہ طلب معاملات کا حل نکالناہوگا۔ غربت مٹانے اور برصغیر کے عوام کی زندگیوں میں بہتری لانے کا آسان ترین نسخہ ہے کہ بات چیت کے ذریعے تنازعات حل کئے جائیں اور باہم تجارت کا آغاز کیا جائے۔ https://t.co/Qrensna0CJ
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 21, 2018
This is his first response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for “meaningful and constructive engagement” through a letter to Khan.
However, while Modi had, in his letter to Khan on August 18, underlined the need to make the Indian subcontinent “free of terror and violence” — a key concern from New Delhi, Khan did not make any reference to the issue of terrorism in his response.
To move forward Pakistan and India must dialogue and resolve their conflicts incl Kashmir: The best way to alleviate poverty and uplift the people of the subcontinent is to resolve our differences through dialogue and start trading https://t.co/V2UkXp0WwS
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 21, 2018
In a separately released message on the eve of first ever “International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism,” Khan said, “The international community must jointly take actions to support the victims of terrorism… We stand with the International Community to eliminate this menace and reiterate to take joint actions to extend all support to those who have been the victims of terrorism.”
Stressing that Pakistan has been “one of the worst victims of terrorism”, he said that despite these losses, “our resolve to fight terrorism remains unwavering”.
There was no official statement to Khan’s response on his tweet, South Block was closely studying his approach.