Pakistan, India war not imminent: Imran Khan

Davos: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said that there is no danger of war between nuclear–arch rivals India and Pakistan and we want peaceful resolution of all outstanding disputes.

Speaking during an interview with the International Media Council on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, he said that the international community including United Nation and the United States must intervene in current situation to prevent tensions between the two countries from reaching a point of no return.

Imran Khan said that the United Nations should send observers along the Line of Control (LoC) to assess the situation.

The prime minister said that the previous governments have made mistake of agreeing what they couldn’t deliver as a result we lost 70,000 people in this war on terror and in the end we [Pakistan] was held responsible for the US not succeeded. He said Pakistan for the first time has decent ties with US, adding that Islamabad want to promote trade with Washington.

He said the situation in Afghanistan has always impacted Pakistan and only long term prosperity can come with peace in the war torn country. Imran Khan appreciated the policy of Trump administration to hold dialogue and talks with Taliban to come out of Afghan imbroglio.

Replying to a question, he said when his government came to power, he immediately reached out towards India to improve bilateral relations between the two countries as he strongly believed that only way forward is settlement of disputes through talks. However, the Prime Minister regretted that, India resorted to hostility towards Pakistan after the Pulwama incident.

He said after winning his second term, Indian Prime Minister Modi unilaterally annexed the Occupied Kashmir by revoking its independent status that was granted in Indian constitution. Imran Khan said Kashmiri people have been held hostage for the last five months with innumerable human rights violations.

On a question regarding probability of conflict between India and Pakistan, he ruled out any immediate clash between the two countries. However, he expressed worry that India could again launch a strike inside Pakistan on the pretext of any other Pulwama like incident.

The Prime Minister urged the US and international community to take stock of the situation and play their role in resolving the Kashmir issue. He also impressed upon them to send international observers on fact finding mission in Kashmir as it is becoming a flash point between two nuclear armed neighbors.