India urged to heed Imran’s olive branch

PTI chief offered to go the extra mile to address all issues, including Kashmir

India should pay attention to Prime Minister-in waiting Imran Khan’s offer of talks to address all issues, including Kashmir, a leading Pakistani daily said yesterday.

The influential Dawn English newspaper, in an editorial, lauded the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief, who is trying to cobble together a coalition to form new federal government, for his peace overtures he made in his electoral victory speech on Thursday.

Core issue

The cricketer-turned-politician said his government would seek good relations with India and would like leaders of the two countries to sit across the table and resolve all disputes, including the “core issue” of Kashmir.

The peace remarks, the daily said, “drew significant interest nationally and internationally”.

“Explicitly linking the fight against poverty to regional trade was an important assessment by Khan as was his criticism of the Pakistan-India blame game. India should pay heed to Khan’s offer to go the extra mile to address all issues, including the Kashmir dispute,” the newspaper said.

“Expressing a commitment to seeking better ties with India on a reciprocal basis has put Khan in the mainstream of national politics,” it added.

The daily, however, took a dig at the Indian government, saying while Islamabad was ready to make efforts to improve ties with New Delhi, there was no apparent attempt seen from the Indian side.

“Despite the sometimes heated campaign rhetoric, there is a consensus among all major national political parties [in Pakistan] that ties with India must improve — a consensus that is invaluable and is arguably missing from Indian politics today.”

It said the views expressed by Imran during his speech about Pakistan’s future ties with its neighbours and global powers were “sensible and aspirational”.

“Khan recognised that for Pakistan to achieve its social and economic potential it must be at peace with its neighbours in the region.”

Views expressed by Imran during his speech about future ties with neighbours and global powers were “sensible and aspirational”, Dawn said.