Prime Minister of Pakistan has said that the decision to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019 had increased the security concerns of Islamabad. Currently, there is no bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan and as per the statement by Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, talks between the two nations can be held only if the special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir is restored.
The issue of Kashmir seems to be the main issue between Islamabad and New Delhi and it has raised security concerns after its special status was scrapped back in 2019. Imran Khan while talking to a newspaper said that there is no relationship between both countries as of now and there is just a stalemate. He mentioned that restoring the special status of the state is the only condition he has for talks with New Delhi. He said that if India could go back to August 5, 2019, then he could talk after that.
The Prime Minister stated that they could build a relationship with India but it will have to start from India going back to that step they had taken on August 5, 2019. India would have to restore the special status of Kashmir because it was a violation of international law, as per his statement. He further added that to get into negotiations with New Delhi would seem like a betrayal of the people of Kashmir who had been given a guarantee by the international community that they would be allowed to decide their destiny through a plebiscite, as per the Prime Minister. He was adamant that there is no way they can move forward with talks with India until they agree to restore the status of Kashmir.
There has been no immediate response from the Indian officials to the Prime Minister’s remarks. There has not been any sort of comprehensive or structured dialogue since the Mumbai attacks that happened in 2008, which were carried out by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is a Pakistan based terrorist organisation. The top leaders from both nations have met since then, but they were unable to reach an agreement or a breakthrough.
Imran Khan said that the policies of the Indian government regarding Pakistan and Kashmir have resulted in a lot of anxiety in their part of the world and he went on to say that they were not dealing with a rational government. He also said that the Pulwama attacks in February 2019, were carried out by a young Kashmiri boy as opposed to the claim made by the Indian Government that it was carried out by a Pakistan-based terror group named Jaish-e-Mohammed.
