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'Delayed' dialogue with India in view of Lok Sabha polls: Pakistan

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ANI Asia

Pakistan has said it had "delayed" its efforts to hold talks with India because of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and will move forward once the new government is formed in New Delhi.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry said Pakistan felt the talks at this stage would be useless.

"We have delayed our efforts to hold talks with India because we do not expect any big decision from the present Indian leadership," Chaudhry told Gulf News on Sunday.

In the interview, he argued that it is not the right time to hold dialogue as "Indian politics is currently in turmoil" because of the upcoming elections.

 

"It is useless to talk to them (India) now unless there is some stability. We will move forward once the new government is formed after the elections," Chaudhry added.

Asked which Indian leader - Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi - would suit Pakistan more for peace talks, the minister said it does not matter for Pakistan.

"We will respect any Indian leader and the party elected by the Indian people. And, we would like to move forward to hold dialogue with whosoever comes into power in India," Chaudhry said.

On being asked as to who decides on the foreign policy of the country, the minister further noted that it is "Of course Prime Minister Imran Khan".

"During the earlier regimes, there had been conflicts between the civilian government and the army on various issues as they were not capable of talking to each other frankly. But this is the not the case anymore since Imran Khan has come into power," Chaudhry said.

"Our government has an advantage that we can talks freely with each other. Currently, each and every major policy in Pakistan is actually a consensus policy - with the civilian government and the army on the same page," he added.

Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content

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First Published: Jan 28 2019 | 8:36 PM IST

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