'Will extend hand of friendship to India again after 2019 elections', says Pak PM Imran Khan

Imran Khan said that the Indian government turned down his request for peace dialogue this year keeping in mind the upcoming general elections in which Pakistan is a major issue.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that he will once again extend a hand of friendship towards India after the India is done with the 2019 Lok Sabha elections./ Image: Facebook

New Delhi: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said that he will once again extend an olive branch towards India after the country is done with the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as he believed that Indian government turned down its request for peace dialogue this year keeping in mind the upcoming general elections in which Pakistan is a major issue. Khan was speaking at the high profile Future Investment Initiative forum in Riyadh where he said that Pakistan wants peace with all its neighbours particularly India and Afghanistan for regional peace and stability. "Peace with India would help the two countries to divert their resources towards human development instead of indulging in the arms race," Khan was quoted as saying by state-run Radio Pakistan. Similarly, peace in Afghanistan would help Pakistan to have an easy access to the Central Asian states for bilateral economic and trade activities, he said. Khan said he extended a hand of friendship to India which the latter rejected. He said he would try once again after the conclusion of the general elections in India. Aftre assuming power Khan had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a bilateral talk between India’s foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and her paksitani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of United Nations’ General Assembly. India had accepted Pakistan’s offer, but later took a U-turn as three policemen were killed by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir within hours and the news about the release of a postage stamp by Pakistan Posts glorifying slain militant Burhan Wani surfaced in media. In the wake of the two developments, India had rebuffed Pakistan’s proposal. Khan, however, attributed the cancellation to anti-Pakistan rhetoric raking votes in India, the Express Tribune newspaper reported, citing the prime minister. The ties between the two countries had strained after the terror attacks by Pakistan-based groups in 2016 and India's surgical strikes inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. In his victory speech, Khan had expressed his willingness to improve Pakistan's ties with India and said that if India takes one step towards friendship, Pakistan would take two. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday reiterated India's stand on dialogue with Pakistan by saying ''we are ready for dialogue with anyone, but terror and talks cannot go together".