Pakistan will no longer fight someone else's war in future: PM Imran

Premier urges international community to play their role in resolving Kashmir conflict


News Desk November 14, 2019
Prime Minister Imran Khan. SCREENGRAB

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Prime Minister Imran Khan said that Pakistan had suffered a lot due to its policy of becoming a part of foreign conflicts in the past, vowing that the country "from now onwards will only play a conciliatory role between rival nations".

“One main lesson we have learned in the last four decades is that we must not ally ourselves with any country where we have to fight someone else's war,” said the premier while addressing an international conference ‘Margalla Dialogue '19' – organised by Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) in the federal capital on Thursday.

“Initially [in the past] our governments thought that they would gain by becoming a frontline state for some powerful country... we gained something in the shape of foreign aid but in the end, if we analyse, we lost far far more than what we had gained,” he said, adding, "Many of the problems [our] country have been facing today is the results of the flawed decisions made during 1980s and 1990s."

PM Imran reaffirms resolve to make Pakistan an Islamic welfare state

Speaking on the issue of Kashmir conflict, the premier said that after coming into power he tried his best to mend ties with India as both the countries are facing same grave challenges of climate change and poverty.

"India is in the grip of extremist ideology and their ideology is based on hatred and racial superiority which is similar to the ideology of the Nazi party in Germany," he added.

Premier said that when the Nazi party came into power in Germany no one had idea where it was heading to and "today India is facing the similar situation".

He warned that if the international community did not intervene in the Kashmir conflict "there will be catastrophe as the two nuclear armed countries have come face-to-face".

'Illegal' move

On August 5, India had stripped occupied Kashmir of the special autonomy it had for seven decades through a rushed presidential order.

By repealing Article 370 of the constitution, people from the rest of India will now have the right to acquire property in the disputed territory and settle there permanently.

Kashmiris see the move as an attempt to dilute the demographics of Muslim-majority Kashmir with Hindu settlers.

Pakistan had strongly condemned the move and vowed to “exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps” taken by New Delhi.

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