India filled with cautious hope as Pakistan opens political window, says Ajay Bisaria

Statement comes in the backdrop of Prime Minister Imran Khan's call for improved Indo-Pak ties

Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria said New Delhi was filled with cautious hope as Islamabad opened political window, The Indian Express reported.

The statement came in the backdrop of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s call for better relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

In his victory speech, Imran held out an olive branch to the Modi government by suggesting that he would take two steps if India takes one for normalisation of strained relations between the two nations.



PM Imran, who is also chairman of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, also prioritised peace with India in his maiden address to the nation after assuming charge.

In a tweet, he said Pakistan and India must engage in dialogue on issues including Kashmir conflict to move forward.

To move forward Pakistan and India must dialogue and resolve their conflicts incl Kashmir: The best way to alleviate poverty and uplift the people of the subcontinent is to resolve our differences through dialogue and start trading https://t.co/V2UkXp0WwS

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 21, 2018

Bisaria, addressing a ceremony in Indian city of Kolkata on Friday, said the new government in Pakistan had opened a political window and filled India with cautious hope.

The Indian diplomat went on to say the bilateral relations received a setback after the Pathankot and Uri incident “but after the new government came in Pakistan, a new political window opened up and we are filled with cautious hope".



“Terrorism is a deal-breaker; what is important is a bilateral conversation and that will happen when terrorism ends,” he added.

He stressed on enhanced bilateral trade to better the ties and underscored efforts to secure release of every Indian prisoner in Pakistan and their repatriation on humanitarian grounds.