India rejected Pakistan’s offer for talks several times: Imran Khan

Islamabad, Jan 8: Accusing India of rejecting Islamabad's offer for talks several times, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said two nuclear armed countries should not even think of a war.

In an interview with Turkish news agency TRT World, according to his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party, Khan again expressed his desire for talks with India.

He said that even a Cold War was not in the interests of the two countries.

"Two nuclear armed countries should not even think of a war; not even a Cold War because it could worsen any time. The only way is bilateral talks. Two nuclear armed countries at war is like a suicide," the party quoted him as saying.

He said India did not respond to his peace overtures. India has been maintaining that terror and talks cannot go together.

"India was offered to take one step towards and we shall take two. But India rejected Pakistan's offer for talks several times," Khan said, as per a PTI report.

Khan also said that India would never be able to suppress the rights of the Kashmiri people.

The Indo-Pak ties strained after the terror attacks by Pakistan-based terrorists in 2016 and India's surgical strikes inside Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The ties further nose-dived in 2017 with no bilateral talks talking place between them.

In December, Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has backed Prime Minister Imran Khan's peace initiatives, saying the new government has extended a hand of peace and friendship towards India with utmost sincerity but it should not be taken as Islamabad's weakness.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs