Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, on Wednesday, said there may be a better chance of peace talks with India if Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins the Lok Sabha elections 2019.
The Pak PM said he thinks there may be a better chance of peace talks with India if Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins the general election, which are slated to begin on 11th April, he told Reuters on Tuesday.
“Perhaps if the BJP – a right-wing party – wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached,” Khan said in a media statement to a group of journalists.
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According to Reuters, Khan said that if the next Indian government were led by the opposition Congress party, it might be too scared to seek a settlement with Pakistan over disputed Indian-controlled Kashmir, fearing a backlash from the right.
This was despite the massive alienation that Muslims in Kashmir and Muslims in general were facing in Modi’s India, said Khan, who took office last August.
“I never thought I would see what is happening in India right now,” said the cricket turned politician. Muslim-ness is being attacked.”, he added.
“The BJP’s pledge this week to propose stripping decades-old special rights from the people of Jammu and Kashmir, which prevent outsiders from buying property in the state, was a major concern, though it could also be electioneering”, Khan said.
In an interview with BBC, the Pak PM said that the issue of Kashmir is the only difference that needs to be settled by both the countries and ‘cannot keep boiling like it is’.