Imran Khan pens NYT op-ed on J&K, says talks with India only after it reverses special status decision

-

Islamabad: Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan said that talks with India can happen only if New Delhi "reverses" its decision on revoking Jammu and Kashmir's special status, end the restrictions and withdraws its troops to the barracks. In an opinion piece in The New York Times on Thursday, Imran Khan again warned that if the world does nothing to stop India's decision on Kashmir, the two nuclear-armed countries will get ever closer to a "direct military confrontation."

File image of Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan. PTI

File image of Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan. PTI

Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after India abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories. Reacting to India's decision, Pakistan expelled the Indian High Commissioner after it downgraded the diplomatic ties with New Delhi. "On Kashmir, the dialogue must include all stakeholders, especially the Kashmiris," Imran says.

"But dialogue can start only when India reverses its illegal annexation of Kashmir, ends the curfew and lockdown, and withdraws its troops to the barracks," he says. Asserting that abrogation of Article 370 was its internal matter, India has strongly criticised Pakistan for making "irresponsible statements" and provocative anti-India rhetoric over issues internal to it.

Imran says that when he was elected prime minister last August, one of his foremost priorities was to work for lasting and just peace in South Asia. But he says that all his efforts to start a dialogue for peace were "rebuffed" by India. India has not been engaging with Pakistan since an attack on the Air Force base at Pathankot in January of 2016 by Pakistan-based terrorists, maintaining that talks and terror cannot go together.

With his efforts to internationalise Kashmir not gaining traction, Imran has been repeatedly trying to project a panic situation by raising the possibility of a military confrontation between the nuclear-armed neighbours. "With the nuclear shadow hovering over South Asia, we realise that Pakistan and India have to move out of a zero-sum mind-set to begin dialogue on Kashmir, various strategic matters and trade," he says.
If the world does nothing to stop India's moves on Kashmir, he says, warning that "there will be consequences for the whole world as two nuclear-armed states get ever closer to a direct military confrontation."

Reacting to Pakistan raising the nuclear issue frequently, the External Affairs Ministry spokesperson earlier this month noted that Islamabad would like to project a "panic situation" in South Asia. "From their side, they would like to project a panic situation, the international community does not think there is a war like situation. It is a ploy to deflect attention," the MEA spokesperson said in New Delhi on 9 August.

Imran, in his article, also urged the international community that it is imperative that they "think beyond trade and business advantages."



from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/2LhqA5h
Press Trust of India

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Both COVID-19 vaccine doses needed for good protection against B16172 variant

-
It’s been a concerning few weeks in the UK, with the B16172 variant first taking hold and then spreading to become dominant. This more infectious form of the virus, initially identified in India, is what we’re now going to have to live with – unless it is out-competed by another variant in the future. Worryingly, experts had predicted that B16172 might be able to escape some of the effects of vaccines, which if true would threaten to derail the UK’s plans to finish lifting restrictions from the end of June. However, Public Health England (PHE) has looked at the ability of various variants to evade immunity and says that the UK’s vaccines remain effective against the variants circulating, including B16172. On the surface, this looks like good news. But delve a bit deeper, and things get more complicated, says Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia. PHE’s research found a little drop-off in protection against B16172 among people who were fully vaccinated.
Read more

New coronavirus variant emerge in India: How should our COVID response change?

-
Image
After genome sequencing of over 10,000 COVID-19 cases in India, researchers have discovered a new variant with two new mutations which may be better at evading the immune system. In 15-20 percent of samples from the Indian state of Maharashtra (the state accounting for 62 percent of cases in the country) a new, double mutation in key areas of the virus has been detected. These are now known as the E484Q and L452R mutations. What makes the variant different? Both these mutations are concerning because they are located in a key portion of the virus – the spike protein – that it uses to penetrate human cells. Spike proteins attach via a “receptor binding domain”, meaning the virus can attach to receptors in our cells. These new mutations include changes to the spike protein that make it a “better fit” for human cells. This means the virus can gain entry more easily and multiply faster. Given what we have seen with other similar mutations , it might also make it harder for our immu
Read more

Aditya L1 Mission: Spacecraft is nearing its final phase, says ISRO chief

-
Aditya L1 spacecraft is nearing its final phase, and manoeuvres to enter the L1 point are expected to be completed by January 7, 2024, according to ISRO Chairman S Somanath. “Aditya is on the way. I think it has reached almost its final phase,” the ISRO chief told PTI on the sidelines of an event organised at VSSC to commemorate the 60th year of the First Sounding Rocket Launch. Aditya L1, India’s first space-based mission to study the Sun, was successfully launched on September 2 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota. The spacecraft, after travelling about 1.5 million km from Earth over 125 days, is expected to be placed in a Halo orbit around the Lagrangian point L1, considered closest to the Sun. He said that the last preparations for the spacecraft’s entry into the L1 point are currently underway incrementally.”Possibly by January 7th, the final manoeuvres will be done for entering into the L1 point,” Somanath added. Among other tasks, it will capture and tr
Read more