Pak hopes to resume talks with India after assembly polls

TIL Desk/World/Washington-Pakistan hopes that there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India after the state assembly elections in the neighbouring country, a senior minister has said.

“We are hoping that by March these state elections will be over and maybe then there will be a better environment to pursue peace talks with India. But we are totally committed,” Pakistani Minister of Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal told a gathering in Washington, DC.

Responding to a question at the United States Institute of Peace, a top American think-tank, Iqbal rued that Pakistan is an election issue in the state assembly elections in India.

“This is a bit unfortunate that they’re taking, you know, strong positions along the electoral cycle. I think we should be mature enough to think beyond that was India and Pakistan have to live together, we cannot change our geography, and we must now, think in terms of peace,” Iqbal said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he said, is a strong advocate of peace in the region. “We have very actively pursued peace with Afghanistan and India and continue to do so because we think that our development depends upon peace in the region,” he said.