Imran Khan terms India calling off meet ‘arrogant’

Commodore (retired) C Uday Bhaskar, director of Society for Policy Studies, said terror had once again disrupted tentative attempts at engagement between the two sides. “The reality is that India-pakistan relations have been hostage to terrorism for almost 20 years and both sides have been unable to surmount this challenge,” he said. But Bhaskar said it was “unlikely Imran Khan would have been able to make a gesture (for peace with India) without keeping the army in the loop”.

India on Friday called off the planned meeting between foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, citing the killing of security personnel by Pakistan-based entities and the release of 20 Pakistani stamps glorifying slain Hizb-ulMujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

Chaudhry said Pakistan too had concerns about terrorism purportedly backed by India in Balochistan. “Our intelligence agencies believe India is sponsoring the movements in Balochistan and then there is the case of (Kulbhushan) Jadhav… This issue of cross-border terrorism goes both ways,” he said.

He added that the “real issue between the two countries is Kashmir” and “lakhs of Pakistanis” back the “struggle” in Jammu and Kashmir. “Blaming everything on Pakistan is not right, India too should correct its mistakes. Blaming us for the administrative, financial and other problems in Kashmir is ridiculous,” he said.

Chaudhry also said it would