ISLAMABAD: Pakistani President Dr. Arif Alvi has said what was being perceived as a “shift” in Prime Minister Imran Khan’s stance on Kashmir and talks with arch-rival India was a change in judgment due to changing circumstances, saying no one’s decisions should be “carved in stone.”
In an interview to Reuters on June 4, Khan said Pakistan was ready to restart talks with India if Delhi provided a roadmap toward restoring the previous status of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
The two nuclear-armed neighbors both control parts of Kashmir but claim it in full. In 2019, India withdrew Indian-ruled Kashmir’s autonomy in order to tighten its grip over the territory, sparking outrage in Pakistan, the downgrading of diplomatic ties and a suspension of bilateral trade.
Since then, Pakistan had maintained that it would be ready for talks with India only if it restored the original status of Kashmir.
In an interview aired on Monday night on a local TV channel, the host asked the president if there appeared to be a shift in the PM’s position on talks with India.
“This shift, that people sometimes call a U-turn ... according to new circumstances, on the basis of new reasons, due to changing circumstances, a person should change their judgment,” Alvi said, defending Khan’s statement to Reuters. “Sometimes it happens that you say I don’t want to talk to him, among friends for example ... then you will try that a third person will play a role to get you talking again.”
The president concluded that it was not right for anyone to make decisions “carved in stone.”
“Even if they give us a roadmap, that these are the steps that we will take to basically undo what they did, which is illegal, against international law and United Nations resolutions... then that is acceptable,” Khan had said in the Reuters interview. “If there is a roadmap, then, yes, we will talk.”
Kashmir has been a flashpoint since India and Pakistan gained independence from British rule in 1947, and they have fought two wars over the region. Pakistan accuses India of rights violations in Kashmir, and India says Pakistan supports militants in its part of the region. Both deny the charges.
In 2019, a suicide bombing of an Indian military convoy in Kashmir led to India sending warplanes to Pakistan.
Pakistan in March deferred a decision by its top economic decision-making body to restart trade with India until Delhi reviewed its moves in Kashmir.
Khan told Reuters that India had crossed a “red line” by revoking the autonomy of its part of Kashmir.
“They have to come back for us to resume dialogue,” Khan said, adding, “at the moment there is no response from India.”
PM Khan’s stance on Kashmir, India talks can change with changing circumstances — president
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PM Khan’s stance on Kashmir, India talks can change with changing circumstances — president
- Khan said recently Pakistan would restart talks with Delhi if it provided roadmap toward restoring previous status of Kashmir
- The statement has been perceived as “shift” in policy as Pakistan previously said no chance of talks until original status restored fully
Bangladesh-Pakistan flights resume after 14 years
- National carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines departed for Pakistan’s Karachi city with 150 passengers
- Since 2012, travelers between both nations have used connecting flights to reach their destinations
DHAKA, Bangladesh: Direct flights between Bangladesh and Pakistan resumed on Thursday after more than a decade, as ties warm between the two nations that have long had an uneasy relationship.
Bangladesh and Pakistan — geographically divided by about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) of Indian territory — were once one nation. They split after a bitter war in 1971.
Since 2012, travelers between Bangladesh and Pakistan had to use connecting flights through Gulf hubs such as Dubai and Doha.
On Thursday national carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines departed for the Pakistani city of Karachi, the first regular flight since 2012.
Mohammad Shahid, one of 150 Karachi-bound passengers on board, said he was happy to be able to travel more frequently than before, when he could only make the journey once every two or three years.
“We had been waiting for such an opportunity because we travel continuously,” he told AFP in Dhaka.
“There are so many people waiting in Pakistan to come here, and some waiting here to go there.”
Direct flights will now operate twice weekly.
Biman said in a statement that their resumption would “play a significant role in promoting trade and commerce, expanding educational exchanges, and fostering cultural ties between the two countries.”
Ties with fellow Muslim-majority nation Pakistan have warmed since a student-led revolt in Bangladesh overthrew Sheikh Hasina in 2024, ending her autocratic 15-year rule.
Over the same period, relations between Bangladesh and Hasina’s old ally India have turned frosty.
Cargo ships resumed sailing from Karachi to Bangladesh’s key port of Chittagong in November 2024.
Trade has risen since then and cultural ties have grown, with popular Pakistani singers performing in Dhaka, while Bangladeshi patients have traveled to Pakistan for medical care.
