New Delhi: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said the army and the government of his country were on the same page and called for a “civilised" relationship" with India.
"Whenever I travelled to India, people would tell me the Pakistan army was not interested in peace... I am telling you that I the PM, our party, other political parties, our army - we are all on the same page and we want to move ahead with India. We want to have a civilised relationship," Imran Khan said, after holding a groundbreaking ceremony for the corridor to Kartarpur Sahib, one of the holiest shrines of Sikhs.
"For 70 years, we have been fighting with each other... India points fingers at Pakistan, and Pakistan points fingers at India. There have been mistakes on both sides, but how long must we keep play this blame-game? Everytime we take one step ahead, we slide two steps behind," said Khan.
Supporting Imran's view, Navjot Singh Sidhu said,"Both the governments should realise that we have to move forward. My father used to tell me that Punjab Mail went till Lahore, I believe that it can go further till Peshawar, till Afghanistan."
Imran Khan said that the only sore point between the two countries is the Kashmir issue.
“The only issue between us is Kashmir, all it needs is just two capable leaderships to resolve this issue. Just imagine the potential we have if our relationships get strong," said Imran Khan.
Last week, Pakistan and India announced that they would develop the corridor on their respective side of the border to help Indian pilgrims visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur.
Thereafter Pakistan invited external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor in Pakistan. Thanking Pakistan for the invitation, Swaraj said she will not be bale to attend due to prior election commitments. She, however, deputed two union ministers to represent the country.
On Tuesday, Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesman Mohammad Faisal had said that prime minister Modi will be invited to Pakistan for the SAARC summit. However, Sushma Swaraj said until Pakistan stops terrorist activities in India there will be no dialogue and the country will not participate in the SAARC summit.
India-Pakistan ties nose-dived in recent years with no bilateral talks taking place. The ties between the two countries had strained after the terror attacks by Pakistan-based groups in 2016.
The issue of Kartarpur Sahib came into focus after Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu visited Pakistan in August to attend the oath-taking ceremony of his cricketer-turned-politician friend Imran Khan as prime minister of that country.
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