Kashmir dispute poses serious threat to peace in region, beyond: PM

NEW YORK, Sep 23 (APP):Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said with the two nuclear armed countries – Pakistan and India – facing each other, the United Nations and international community should play their due role in the resolution of Kashmir dispute, which posed serious threat to peace in the region and beyond.

“Two nuclear armed countries are facing each other…And as prime minister I am saying that anything can happen in such a situation,” he said while speaking to a gathering of former US diplomats, analysts, intellectuals and media here at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a prestigious US think-tank.

The prime minister mentioned the Indian government’s August 5 action of revoking Article 370 of their constitution, which eliminated the special status of the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K), as well as the complete lock-down and communication blockade of eight million Kashmiri people by 900,000 troops in the IOJ&K for the last 50 days and said, “The international community should at least ask India to lift curfew.”

During the course of his talk at CFR, Imran Khan spoke at length on various subjects ranging from Pakistan’s foreign policy and its relations with various countries, including the United State, China, Afghanistan, Iran and India, as well as the situation in region.

Giving a brief account of Pak-India relations since he came to power 13 months back, the prime minister told the audience how he tried to engage Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for moving forward with mutually beneficial ties in diverse areas, including trade to retrieve the two countries facing common challenges, especially poverty.

Even before the Pulwama incident for which the Indian government immediately blamed Pakistan, he said, New Delhi continued to shy away from holding any bilateral talks due to domestic politics.

The prime minister mentioned the downing of two Indian fighter jets by Pakistan in retaliation to the unprovoked Indian bombing of Balakot area after the Pulwama incident and said Pakistan also handed back the captured pilot to India as a peace gesture.

He said the Indian government was following the racist agenda of Hindu dominance led by RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), adding it was the same philosophy which assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.

To a question, the prime minister said having a cricketing career he had lived and loved India more than that of any other Pakistani, but viewed that the present India was not heading in the right direction.

“It is not the India of Gandhi,” he said and added that the RSS philosophy was based on the creation of an exclusive Hindu state.

The prime minister said with Pakistan and India having nuclear weapons, he was really worried [about the situation in region] and he on the sidelines of UN General Assembly, would talk to various world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the issue of Kashmir vis a vis Pak-India relations.