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 finance minister touts debt discipline, export focus at Davos panel
- Aurangzeb says debt must fund exports, not consumption, for sustainable growth
- He says Pakistan used fiscal buffers to respond to floods without external appeals
KARACHI: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Wednesday disciplined borrowing, export-led growth and careful debt management were central to stabilizing the country’s economy, as Islamabad looks to unlock new sources of growth amid rising global debt levels.
Speaking at a panel discussion on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, he said debt was not inherently harmful if used productively, but warned that emerging economies such as Pakistan could not afford to deploy borrowed funds for consumption.
“For countries like Pakistan, debt must be channeled into investments that generate exportable surplus,” Aurangzeb said, according to a statement circulated by the Finance Division. “It is not about the availability of debt or funding, but how wisely and effectively it is steered to create long-term economic value.”
Pakistan has been pursuing fiscal reforms as part of an International Monetary Fund-backed stabilization program, including cutting subsidies, broadening the tax base and restructuring state-owned enterprises, as the government seeks to restore macroeconomic stability and revive growth.
Aurangzeb said Pakistan had reduced its debt-to-GDP ratio to 70 percent from 75 percent, achieved a primary fiscal surplus and brought inflation down from a peak of 38 percent to single digits, allowing the central bank to cut its policy rate to 10.5 percent.
He also flagged ongoing debt-management reforms, including liability management operations and buybacks, and said Pakistan plans to enter China’s capital markets with its first Panda bond, structured as a green bond.
Addressing climate risks, Aurangzeb said building fiscal buffers had allowed Pakistan to respond to recent floods using domestic resources rather than international emergency appeals, underscoring the need for resilience in climate-vulnerable economies.
He added that public-private partnerships and capital markets were playing a growing role in financing development, citing a $3.6 billion syndicated financing for a major copper mining project expected to generate $2.8 billion in annual exports from 2028.
The finance minister is part of Pakistan’s delegation visiting Davos for the annual gathering of global leaders and investors.
The delegation is led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who highlighted the country’s shift toward an export-driven growth model, with a focus on minerals, information technology, artificial intelligence and digital services, while speaking at a breakfast event on the sidelines of the forum.
