Pakistan minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Saturday that Islamabad will try to resume dialogue with New Delhi once the Indian general elections are over and a new government has come to power. “We have delayed our efforts to hold talks with India because we do not expect any big decision from the present Indian leadership,” the federal minister for information and broadcasting told Gulf News in an interview.
Chaudhry claimed that India is presently in “political turmoil” because of the elections expected to be held in April and May, and that Pakistan is waiting for some “stability” to return. Asked whether Pakistan would prefer to talk to current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, or Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Chaudhry said: “We will respect any Indian leader and the party elected by the Indian people. We would like to move forward to hold dialogue with whosoever comes into power in India.”
The minister also called the decision to open the Kartarpur corridor between India and Pakistan a “remarkable development”, which will not only help Sikhs but help foster better ties between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had offered to start talks with India soon after coming to power in July last year. However, in September, India called off a meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Pakistani deputy Shah Mahmood Qureshi in New York, after three policemen, who were abducted by suspected militants from their homes in Batagund and Kapren villages of Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district, were found dead.
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