Pakistan PM-in-waiting rakes up Kashmir issue

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Prime Minister-in-waiting Imran Khan is not going to be soft towards India, close aides said on Thursday even as the 65-year-old cricketer-turned-politician described Kashmir as the “biggest problem” and advocated talks between the two neighbours to resolve it.

In his first public address after leading his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to victory in general elections, Mr Khan talked of a peace initiative between Islamabad and Delhi and insisted on a role for Pakistan on the Kashmir issue, a stand which even previous Pakistani regimes stuck to despite India’s protests.

Mr Khan said Kashmir is the “core” issue between the two countries and it should be resolved through talks.

“I am a person who arguably knows the most people in India because of my days in cricket. We can resolve the poverty crisis in South Asia. The biggest problem is Kashmir,” he said, suggesting that the two sides should come to the table to resolve it.

Mr Khan, known to be harsh towards India in cricket and politics, said: “Kashmiris are suffering for long. We have to solve the Kashmir issue by sitting across the table. If India’s leadership is willing, then both of us can solve this issue through dialogue. It will be good for the subcontinent also.”

As the election results showed a near-majority for Mr Khan, he asserted that the blame game between the two neighbours, detrimental to the subcontinent, should stop.

“If they take one step towards us, we will take two, but at least need a start,” he said.  

“We want to improve our relations with India, if their leadership also wants it. This blame game that whatever goes wrong in Pakistan’s Balochistan is because of India and vice versa brings us back to square one,” he said.

In a recent interview, the PTI leader said he had grown up “hating India” due to the bloodshed and violence associated with Partition. “I grew up hating India because I grew up in Lahore and there were massacres of 1947, so much bloodshed and anger. But as I started touring India, I got such love and friendship there that all this disappeared,” Mr Khan said.

Weeks before the elections, he had expressed dim hopes for the breaking of ice between Pakistan and India, blaming Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the deadlock in relations between the South Asian neighbours. Mr Khan lamented that the Indian Prime Minister’s “mindset” did not allow for negotiations between the two countries.

“Modi’s mindset does not allow for [the negotiations]. I had told Modi [once], no matter what happens the door for negotiations between India and Pakistan must never close,” he said.

PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said his party will not compromise on the Kashmir issue with India. “We want peace, but will not bow before Modi,” he maintained.

Mr Khan has other reasons too to be aggressive towards India amid widespread allegations that the military establishment supported him to win the polls.

Pakistan’s military has a longstanding policy over the Kashmir issue that every civilian government in the past adopted. There is no reason Mr Khan will not promote the military’s policy of “no compromise” with India over the decades-old issues. Analysts said that Mr Khan would have to consider the international peace scenario before locking horns with India. “When you are in the Opposition, you can say whatever you want but when you are the head of the government, you have to be diplomatic. I don’t think Imran Khan would go too far (against India),” said one analyst.

Zahid Hamid, another analyst, said Mr Khan needs to form the government first. “I think he will form a weak government, so he won’t be too aggressive,” he said.