Pakistan premier Imran Khan says ready for talks with PM Modi

Islamabad, November 29

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan today said he was ready to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi while conceding that it was not in the interest of his country to allow terror activities from its territory.

Khan’s remarks came a day after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj categorically ruled out the possibility of holding talks with Pakistan unless it stops cross-border terror activities.

“It is not in our interest to allow use of Pakistan’s territory for terror outside,” Khan, who is celebrating 100 days of his government, said during an interaction with a group of Indian journalists here.

Khan said the people in Pakistan want peace with India and he will be happy to meet Modi and talk to him on any issue. “I am ready for talks on any issue. There can’t be a military solution for Kashmir,” he said, adding that “nothing is impossible”.

“The mindset of people here has changed,” Khan said, a day after he laid the foundation stone for the Kartarpur corridor that will connect Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur — the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev — with Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district.

Pakistan is projecting the corridor as a goodwill gesture.

“The India I know — majority must be appreciating it, Khan said, adding that the gesture for peace cannot be one-sided.

“We are willing to wait for (general) elections to get over in India for a gesture from New Delhi,” Khan said, referring to the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for next year.

On punishing Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, who is carrying a

$10 million bounty, Khan said, “There are UN sanctions against Hafiz Saeed. There is already a clampdown on him.” 

The JuD was declared a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014. The group is a front for the Lashkar-e-Toiba terror outfit.

Saeed is the co-founder of the LeT, responsible for the attacks in which 166 persons were killed in 2008. He was put under house arrest after the 26/11 attack, but was freed by a court in 2009.

On the other accused in the 26/11 case, Khan said their case is sub-judice. — PTI

‘Mindset of people here has changed’

I am ready for talks on any issue. There can’t be a military solution for Kashmir... nothing is impossible... the mindset of people here has changed... The India I know — majority must be appreciating it (the offer of talks and call for peace between the two neighbours). Imran Khan, Pakistan Prime Minister