ISLAMABAD: Kashmir is the ‘only problem’ between Pakistan and India-- but currently there is no room for normalization of relations, Prime Minister Imran Khan said during a live Q&A session with members of the public on Sunday.

In August 2019, India unilaterally revoked the special status of the independent, Muslim-dominated region. Jammu and Kashmir was India’s only Muslim-majority state before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government split it into two and took direct control. The Himalayan mountain territory is also claimed by Pakistan.

“From day one, I tried to keep [friendly] relations with India. Kashmir is the only problem between us and an issue we wanted to resolve through dialogue,” Khan said.

Khan conceded there were obvious advantages to trading with India-- neighboring China’s massive marketplace was on one hand and India’s huge population on the other. Connectivity would be good for everyone he said.

But normalizing ties for the sake of trade would be a huge ‘betrayal’ to Kashmiris living in the heavily militarized Indian-administered region-- where human rights abuses and excesses by Indian authorities are well documented.

“If we normalize relations with India at this time, we will betray the people of Kashmir,” Khan said.

Re-establishing ties, he continued, would mean “ignoring Kashmir’s struggle and the more than 100,000 Kashmiris martyred.”