ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday he would no longer seek dialogue with Indian officials, raising the threat of a military escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
In an interview with The New York Times, Khan complained about what he described as repeated rebuffs from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Pakistan’s entreaties for dialogue, both before and after an August 5 crackdown in the disputed territory of Kashmir.
“There is no point in talking to them,” Khan said in an interview at the prime minister’s office in Islamabad. “I mean, I have done all the talking. Unfortunately, now when I look back, all the overtures that I was making for peace and dialogue, I think they took it for appeasement. There is nothing more that we can do.”
Khan has repeatedly denounced India’s Hindu nationalist government for revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in a bid to fully integrate India’s only Muslim-majority region with the rest of the country, the most far-reaching move on the troubled territory in nearly seven decades.
Anticipating unrest, Indian authorities have also launched a clampdown in Kashmir by suspending telephone and Internet services and putting many leaders under house arrest.
Indian soldiers and police officers have been accused of using excessive force on Kashmiri civilians, drawing strong criticism from rights groups and the United Nations.
International rights groups and Kashmiris say ordinary citizens are unable to reach hospitals because of Indian security checkpoints, and medical and food stocks ran low shortly after India stripped the region of its autonomy this month.
Echoing what Khan and his subordinates have said on social media and in Pakistani news outlets, the Pakistani prime minister described Modi as a “fascist and Hindu supremacist” who intended to eradicate Kashmir’s mostly Muslim population and populate the region with Hindus.
“The most important thing is that eight million people’s lives are at risk,” Khan said. “We are all worried that there is ethnic cleansing and genocide about to happen.”
Such accusations have been dismissed as absurd by Modi’s government.
Shortly after taking office last summer, Khan reached out to India in an attempt to revive talks between the countries on a wide range of issues, including Kashmir. But Indian officials rejected Khan’s efforts with a longstanding response that they will negotiate only after Pakistan cuts ties to militant groups. Pakistan denies it has links to such groups.
No point in talking to India, PM Khan says
No point in talking to India, PM Khan says
- Laments that India has mistaken his peace overtures as attempts at appeasement
- Says Pakistan worried “ethnic cleansing and genocide about to happen” in Kashmir
Pakistan says $50 million meat export deal with Tajikistan nearing finalization
- Islamabad expects to finalize agreement soon after Dushanbe signals demand for 100,000 tons
- Pakistan is seeking to expand agricultural trade beyond rice, citrus and mango exports
ISLAMABAD: Tajikistan has expressed interest in importing 100,000 tons of Pakistani meat worth more than $50 million, with both governments expected to finalize a supply agreement soon, Pakistan’s food security ministry said on Tuesday.
Pakistan is trying to grow agriculture-based exports as it seeks regional markets for livestock and food commodities, while Tajikistan, a landlocked Central Asian state, has been expanding food imports to support domestic demand. Pakistan currently exports rice, citrus and mangoes to Dushanbe, though volumes remain small compared to national production, according to official figures.
The development came during a meeting in Islamabad between Pakistan’s Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain and Ambassador of Tajikistan Yusuf Sharifzoda, where agricultural trade, livestock supply and food-security cooperation were discussed.
“Tajikistan intends to purchase 100,000 tons of meat from Pakistan, an import valued at over USD 50 million,” the ambassador said, according to the ministry’s statement, assuring full facilitation and that Islamabad was prepared to meet the demand.
The statement said the two sides agreed to expand cooperation in meat and livestock, fresh fruit, vegetables, staple crops, agricultural research, pest management and standards compliance. Pakistan also proposed strengthening coordination on phytosanitary rules and establishing pest-free production zones to support long-term exports.
Pakistan and Tajikistan have long maintained political ties but bilateral food trade remains below potential: Pakistan produces 1.8 million tons of mangoes annually but exported just 0.7 metric tons to Tajikistan in 2024, while rice exports amounted to only 240 metric tons in 2022 out of national output of 9.3 million tons. Pakistan imports mainly ginned cotton from Tajikistan.
