Prime Minister Imran Khan has said Pakistan wants peace with India and is looking for any kind of mediation to resolve bilateral disputes through talks.
“Pakistan is looking for any kind of mediation, because Pakistan believes that progress comes with peace. And when you have tensions with your neighbours, it detracts from resources that could be spent on human beings,” he told Sputnik in an interview. “Our main difference with India is Kashmir. And if the heads of two countries resolve, if two governments decide, this issue can be resolved. But, unfortunately, we have not had much success from India so far,” he said. “But we hope now that the current prime minister has one big mandate, we hope that he will use this mandate to develop better relationship and bring peace in the subcontinent,” he added.
To a question, the prime minister said the Kartarpur Corridor for the Sikh community has been a great initiative from Pakistan. “And we hope that, as I’ve said, now that the elections are over, India will respond positively to these initiatives, to further people-to-people contacts,” he said. “And, I repeat, the only difference, if we resolve that there will be peace in the subcontinent, that’s Kashmir. And Kashmir can only be resolved if the people of Kashmir are given the right of self-determination, which was guaranteed to them by the United Nations in 1945,” he added.
On the issue of Afghanistan, the prime minister said it is in the interest of both Pakistan and Afghanistan that there is peace. “Because war that happens in Afghanistan affects the border areas of Pakistan as well. Hence it is in the interest of both countries that after these long almost 40 years of military action, civil war, foreign invasion, we feel that people of Afghanistan deserve peace. So Pakistan will be trying everything and is trying everything to help there to be peace, so that the Taliban start talking,” he maintained. “I’ve had a meeting with President Ghani in Saudi Arabia, just a week or so ago. We had a very good conversation, we talked about how Pakistan help Afghanistan in resolving the issue about the civil war that is going on there, how we can get the Taliban to talk to the Afghan government and how there can be peace in Afghanistan,” the prime minister said.
“They are already talking to the Americans, and we hope that the Taliban will then talk to the Afghan government so that there is peace,” he added.
Top a question as to how Pakistan assesses the role of Moscow and the Moscow format talks on the Afghan settlement, Imran Khan said Russia has already taken very important steps in this regard. “In Moscow, there were these talks held by the Russian government between Taliban and various members of Afghan political parties. And I think Moscow has a role to play, Moscow has influence in areas of Afghanistan. In fact, all the neighbours should help to bring about peace and stability in Afghanistan,” he said.
On military cooperation between Islamabad and Moscow, the prime minister said defence cooperation between the two countries is growing gradually. “Most of the 50s, 60s, 70s were spent in the Cold War region, where India was close to the Soviet Union, and Pakistan was close to the United States. We were in different camps. Now things have changed. India is friendly with the United States, and Pakistan is also friendly with the US. So we no longer have the Cold War situation. It is refreshing that we have developed our contacts with Russia, and they are developing all the time,” he said.
To a question about possible arms purchase from Russia, Imran Khan said talks in this regard are underway. “Previously Pakistan was tied to the US, and, as we all know, India was tied to the Soviet Union. And no longer is that situation there. First, we hope that our tension with India decreases, so we do not have to buy arms because we want to spend money on human development. But, yes, we are looking for arms from Russia, and I know our military is already in touch with the Russian military,” he said.
