Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan has told the BBC that peace with India over the disputed territory of Kashmir would be “tremendous” for the wider region.
The comments come as India prepares to vote in a general election, weeks after an upsurge of violence in Kashmir.
A suicide attack against Indian forces triggered cross-border air strikes.
Asked what message he wanted to send to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his country, Mr Khan told the BBC’s John Simpson that the Kashmir issue “has to be settled” and “cannot keep boiling like it is”
“The number-one tasks of the two governments is how are we going to reduce poverty and the way we reduce poverty is by settling our differences through dialogue and there is only one difference – which is Kashmir,” he said.
India’s prime minister has used anti-Pakistan rhetoric and stressed national-security themes during his re-election campaign.
Mr Khan also spoke about the dangers of confrontation between the two neighbours.
“Once you respond, no-one can predict where it can go from there,” he said.
If India had “come back and then again attacked Pakistan, Pakistan would have no choice but to respond,” he added.
“So in that situation, two nuclear-armed countries, I just felt it was very irresponsible.”
Pakistan’s economy is in a bad way. Foreign investors are put off by the angry relationship with India, and by claims that Pakistan is allowing militant Islamic groups to operate from its territory – this he strongly denied.
No previous Pakistani government had done more to clamp down on terrorist groups, he maintained. For him, everything depends on a solution to the Kashmir problem.
If India and Pakistan can find that, he said, everything else could be sorted out easily.
During his BBC interview Mr Khan also touched on the case of Asia Bibi – a high-profile blasphemy case involving a Christian woman.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld its decision to overturn her conviction and death sentence in January, but she is yet to leave Pakistan.
Mr Khan told the BBC that she would be departing the country “very soon”
“There is a little bit of a complication. And I can’t speak on the media about [it],” he said. “But I can assure you she is safe and she will be leaving in weeks.”
