Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said the Kashmir is the only issue in the way of better ties between India and Pakistan, adding India will have to take the first step, in the form of improving conditions in Kashmir for improving bilateral relations and reverse the August 5 decision of stripping  Jammu & Kashmir of its special status.

Khan’s comment came while he was speaking at the Islamabad Security Dialogue on Wednesday.

“There is one issue that is stopping us [from improving relations] at this time. We will make our efforts but India must take the first step because after August 5, till they take the first step, then, unfortunately, we cannot move forward,” he said.

He further said the relationship between the two nations broke down completely after the decision of the 5 August in 2019 by India. However, the ties had already soured after Pakistani terrorists attacked an Indian Army base in Uri, Kashmir in 2016.

Khan said after he became prime minister in 2018, he made several attempts for improving ties. Things changed once India scrapped the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.  

“Unfortunately, there was August 5 and that was a big blow and there was a total breakdown between the two countries,” he said.

He further added, “We still hope that they (India) give the Kashmiris the rights they were given by the UN Security Council to decide their own lives. It will be as beneficial for India as for Pakistan.”

Significantly, the DGMOs of the forces of the two countries had recently issued a joint statement, calling for the strict observance of the 2003 understanding on a ceasefire along the Line of Control. Since then, reports suggested, have not reported any violence of ceasefire. 

Also, there is significant toning down of rhetoric on both sides, at least in public statements from the highest level. Khan has stopped personally attacking Indian Prime Minister Modi. And Pakistan Army Chief Gen Bajwa, too, signaled peace intentions, at least in words. 

“We have to see how we can resolve it through dialogue and established relations like civilized neighbors,” Khan was quoted as saying by Dawn. In a peaceful environment, he claimed, India could access the resource-rich Central Asia.

Significantly, this is also the first statement by Imran Khan on the possibilities of allowing India to access the Central Asian region. However, Pakistan, despite several attempts by the Afghan government, so far has refused to allow India and Afghanistan to access each other’s markets through its land route. 

Moreover, Khan’s statement is in line with the renewed push of the Pakistan government to market itself as the economic bridge in the region. During his recent Sri Lanka visit, Khan had made a similar proposal to Sri Lanka. 

Earlier, on many occasions, especially after the change of guard in the US, several Pakistan officials, including prime minister's special assistant Moeed Yusuf and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi have been selling the change of approach in Pakistan’s foreign policy, a shift from geo-strategic to geo-economic.