Ties between India and Pakistan are currently at an all-time low following a string of high-profile terror attacks in recent years that were all blamed on Pakistan-based terror groups. India has said that terrorism and talks cannot go together

The whole of South Asia is hostage to the issue of Kashmir and Islamabad’s overtures for peace were mistaken by New Delhi as a sign of weakness, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Thursday.

Delivering the inaugural address at a conclave organised by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, Khan said several problems affecting South Asia, such as climate change, can be effectively tackled only if India and Pakistan work together.

“There is only one big problem in South Asia. The whole of South Asia is hostage to the Kashmir issue,” he said, speaking in Urdu at the Islamabad Conclave 2021, the theme for which was “Peaceful and prosperous South Asia”.

“It is with regret I have to say that we tried our best to have talks with India, I called [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi. Despite all the overtures we made, I slowly realised that he thought this was our weakness. There was some other reaction to all our efforts for peace, they were thinking Pakistan is making efforts for peace since it is very weak,” he said.

Khan contended it was “unfortunate that we were not interacting with the government of a normal India, we were competing with an ideology”.

He further said: “Our problem is only Kashmir and that problem can’t be resolved through guns and bombs. It can be resolved only through dialogue, and its solution is political dialogue...Whatever India is trying through the use of guns, strong arm tactics and repression of Kashmiris will never succeed.”

There was no immediate response to Khan’s remarks from the Indian side.

Ties between India and Pakistan are currently at an all-time low following a string of high-profile terror attacks in recent years that were all blamed on Pakistan-based terror groups. India has said that terrorism and talks cannot go together. On the other hand, Pakistan has contended that India hasn’t provided evidence to back up its accusations.