New Delhi: Prime minister-elect Imran Khan spoke about restarting the dialogue process and expressed concerns about alleged human rights violations in Kashmir during his first meeting with the Indian high commissioner Ajay Bisaria after winning the parliamentary elections.
Indian high commissioner Ajay Bisaria called on Imran Khan at his residence in Bani Gala in Islamabad on Friday and presented him with a cricket bat signed by Indian team.
Indian HC Ajay Bisaria called on Mr Imran Khan, Chairperson & senior leadership of PTI. HC congratulated @ImranKhanPTI on his electoral success, discussed range of issues, prospects of India-Pak relationship. HC gifted a cricket bat autographed by the entire Indian cricket team. pic.twitter.com/xtdZ8H8ZQ5
— India in Pakistan (@IndiainPakistan) August 10, 2018
Former Indian cricketers Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Navjot Singh Sidhu have also been invited to the oath-taking ceremony of the former Pakistan cricket team captain, to be held on August 18.
According to the Indian high commission, the meeting lasted 30 minutes and was “marked by a candid exchange of views”.
Bisaria first congratulated Khan on his electoral victory and then discussed a “range of issues focussing on prospects of the India-Pakistan relationship”.
Both Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf and the Indian high commission gave their own version of the topics that were mentioned during the discussion.
“The Indian high commissioner briefed the PTI leadership on India’s concerns about terrorism and cross-border infiltration,” said the statement from the Indian mission.
The PTI side noted that Imran Khan called for restarting the dialogue process between India and Pakistan “on all issues including Kashmir”. “He (Khan) expressed concern over the human rights violation in IOK,” tweeted PTI leader Shireen Mazari, who was present at the meeting.
پاکستان میں بھارتی ہائی کمشنر اجے بساریا کی بنی گالہ آمد
مقبوضہ کشمیر میں انسانی حقوق کی خلاف ورزیوں پر عمران خان کی جانب سے گہری تشویش کا اظہار
امید کرتا ہوں کہ سارک سربراہ اجلاس جلد اسلام آباد میں منعقد ہوگا، عمران خان #PrimeMinisterImranKhan
— PTI (@PTIofficial) August 10, 2018
He also hoped that the SAARC summit, which had been postponed after most members led by India refused to attend, would be held soon in Islamabad.
According to Mazari, Bisaria told Khan that there was a new sense of optimism in New Delhi that relations between India and Pakistan “would move forward positively” following the phone conversation between the PTI chairman and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
There was a similar pattern in releasing information about the July 30 phone call, when both sides mentioned only their priority topics respectively.
The ministry of external affairs press note says that Modi spoke about his vision for peace and development in South Asia, while the Pakistani political party’s communique claimed that Indian prime minister suggested the evolution of a “joint strategy” for the progress in their bilateral affairs. Notably, both their public statements did not mention the usually ubiquitous topics of cross-border terrorism and Kashmir.
While the noises at the highest level seem to be positive, there is not much change in the ground situation.
Earlier this week, four Indian soldiers were killed in gun battle with a group of militants trying to infiltrate India near the Line of Control in north Kashmir.
On Thursday, a MEA spokesperson noted that India’s position on Balochistan “remains the same”. “Pakistan should take care of its minorities in accordance with the international obligations. It should stop state repression and gross violation of human rights in that region,” he said, in reply to a question at a weekly briefing.