Imran Khan says ready to talk with PM Modi; breaks silence on terrorism, Hafiz Saeed

Breaking his silence over alleged state-sponsored terrorism, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said It is not in his country's interest to allow use its territory for spreading terror outside.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.

ISLAMABAD: Breaking his silence over alleged state-sponsored terrorism, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said it is not in his country's interest to allow use its territory for spreading terror outside. Khan said this during an interaction with a group of Indian journalists in Islamabad. On punishing Mumbai attack mastermind and Jamat-ud Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed, who is carrying a USD 10 million US bounty, said, "there are UN sanctions against Hafiz Saeed. There is already a clampdown on him." He said he “inherited the issue” and “cannot be held responsible for the past”. Saeed is the co-founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was responsible for the attacks in which 166 people were killed in November 2008. He was put under house arrest after the 26/11 attack, but was freed by a court in 2009. The JuD was declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014. The group is a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror outfit. On other accused in the 26/11 case, Khan said their is sub judice. The 26/11 attack case has entered into the 10th year but none of its seven suspects in Pakistan has been punished yet, showing that the case had never been in its priority list. The PTI chairman said he was ready to hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he conceded that it was not in Islamabad's interest to allow use of its territory for terror activities outside the country. He was apparently referring to India's stance that terrorism and talks cannot go together and Pakistan must take effective and credible action to stop providing shelter and support to cross border terrorism from territories under its control. Khan said that people in Pakistan want peace with India and he will be happy to meet Indian Prime Minister Modi and talk to him. "The mindset of people here has changed," Khan said. When asked whether it is possible to resolve the Kashmir issue, the Pakistan Prime Minister said, "nothing is impossible." "I am ready for talks on any issue. There can't be a military solution for Kashmir," he said. He, however, said 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. (With inputs from PTI)