Better chance of peace talks with India if Modi wins: Pakistan

Surjit Kumar Dhal,Islamabad, April 10: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan feels that peace talks on the Kashmir issue with India can only happen if Narendra Modi is re-elected to power.

He said a Congress-led government may be under fear to seek a settlement fearing a backlash from the saffron party.

“Perhaps if the BJP—a right-wing party—wins, some kind of settlement for Kashmir could be reached,” Khan told a group of foreign journalists during an interview.

However, Khan said, this was despite the massive alienation that Muslims in Kashmir and Muslims, in general, were facing in India.

He likened Modi’s electioneering with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which was based on “fear and nationalist feeling”. Exit polls in Israel have hinted at Netanyahu’s return back to power.

Khan did appear to offer India an olive branch, saying that Islamabad was determined to dismantle all Pakistan-based militias in the country and that the government had full support from Pakistan’s powerful army for the programme. Those to be dismantled include groups involved in Kashmir.