Pak PM: No talks till India restores J&K special status

Pledging to present the “Kashmir case” at the United Nations General Assembly “like no one ever did before”, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said there was no use talking to India unless it lifted curfew and restored the special status of held Kashmir.

“To India’s misfortune, it has been taken over by extremist and racist Hindus. Only a person with an extremist mind-set would do what they have done in Kashmir by keeping it under curfew for 45 days,” he said at a presser after inaugurating the Integrated Transit Trade Management System at the Pak-Afghan border.

Torkham, located 55km northwest of here, serves as one of the major border crossings with Afghanistan. The new management system has allowed for round-the-clock trade and immigration facilities at the border crossing.

On Wednesday, Pakistan refused a request from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cross its airspace on a flight to Germany, Pakistan’s foreign minister said.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Islamabad had told the Indian High Commission it was turning down India’s request for Modi to fly across the country today and for his return the following week.

Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday called for “hugging” each Kashmiri and creating a “new paradise” in the valley. Launching the BJP’s poll campaign for the next month’s Maharashtra assembly elections, Modi said a lot of efforts are being made from across the border to foment violence in Jammu and Kashmir.

“We have to create a new paradise (in Kashmir)... hug each Kashmiri,” he said. The decision to revoke provisions under Article 370 was a decision for the unity of India, Modi said.