IT really goes to the credit of Prime Minister Imran Khan of
genuinely and very categorically representing the aspirations of Kashmiri people that are now being heard far and wide. The way he is exposing India’s true evil and ugly extremist face is also unprecedented. In an interview with the New York Times, the Prime Minister said he would no longer seek a dialogue with India as his overtures were rebuffed by his Indian counterpart and had been mistaken for appeasement.
This is the first time that the country has taken such a bold stance, otherwise, in the past, we have seen ourselves only dying for talks with India which never showed interest to engage with the neighbouring country to resolve outstanding disputes. Indeed we understand that all issues can only be resolved only on the table of negotiations but it can only happen if the other party is also interested and serious to move forward on that track. Why should we extend the hand when the other country is not ready to shake it? Everybody saw how did PM Imran Khan try to approach Modi in the wake of Pulwama incident and that too repeatedly but the response of the Indian PM is before everybody that he did not respond. However, this is the time that a sham offer of dialogue can come from New Delhi to offset all the limelight that the Kashmir dispute has gained over the last two or three weeks. But in our view we should not hold talks until and unless Indian authorities do not lift the curfew in the occupied valley, release the Hurriyat leaders and reverse the illegal and controversial steps. As India has a track record of backtracking from talks after a few sittings on one pretext or the other, therefore, we should not sit with New Delhi until it agrees to the mediation of some other important countries on the festering Kashmir dispute.
