ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said that Kashmir dispute could only be resolved through dialogue, but meaningful engagement with the current government in India was not possible because of its religious nationalism, Dawn reported.

Speaking at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad’s (ISSI) ‘Islamabad Conclave-2021’, PM Khan recalled that South Asia had been held back by political differences and conflicts and listed the Kashmir dispute as the “biggest problem” holding the region back.

He said progress in relations between Pakistan and India had been halted because his government “had to deal with RSS’s extremist ideology currently dominating Delhi”.

“Meaningful negotiations with India are impossible as long as the government there is inspired by this ideology,” he said, hoping that one day India could have a rational government with which resolution of disputes could be sought through logical and sane discussions.

The prime minister expected that once the two arch rivals resolved the core dispute of Kashmir they could then go ahead to jointly fight emerging threats like climate change, the report said.

He regretted that all of his government’s peace overtures to India had so far been seen in Delhi as its sign of weakness.

PM Khan said he firmly believed that those seeking to resolve disputes through war were mistaken. “They are either unaware of history or they are too proud of their weapons,” he said, adding that they certainly had no consideration for humanity. This, he warned, led to grave miscalculations.

He underscored the need for resolving disputes till the last moment through dialogue. (Dawn news)