Srinagar: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that peace with India over the “disputed territory of Kashmir” would be “tremendous” for the wider region.

Khan told the BBC in an interview that the nuclear-armed neighbours could only settle their differences with dialogue.

Asked what message he wanted to send to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his country ahead of the general elections, Khan said 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, the report said. “Many see the election as a referendum on the polarising politics of his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).”

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.”