India’s ruling party anti-Muslim, anti-Pakistan: Imran Khan

Prime Minister Imran Khan has claimed that the approach of the ruling BJP was “anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan” and expressed the hope that the stalled bilateral talks could resume after the general elections in India next year. Prime Minister Khan said his government was keen to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attack to book, asserting that it was in the interest of Pakistan.

“India has elections coming up. The ruling party [of India] has an anti-Muslim, anti-Pakistan approach. They rebuffed all my overtures….Let’s hope that after the election is over, we can again resume talks with India,” Khan said in an interview with ‘The Washington Post’ on Thursday.

India has firmly told Pakistan that talks and terrorism cannot go together. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has categorically ruled out the possibility of resumption of bilateral talks with Pakistan unless it stops cross-border terror activities against India. The general elections are due to be held in India in April or May 2019. Speaking about the Mumbai terror attack, Khan said Pakistan wants “something done about the bombers of Mumbai”.