Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on May 11 invoked former Prime Minister and veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee while pushing for talks between India and Pakistan after new government comes at the Centre post Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
Abdullah, the vice president of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), expressed hope that new governments in Pakistan and in India would create a conducive environment for talk between the two countries to address issues.
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“We don’t speak with neighboring countries only considering their nuclear weapons. We are neigbours (other than Pakistan who do not have nuclear weapons. But we try to keep good relations with them. Be it, Bangladesh. Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar,” Abdullah, the JKNC candidate from Baramulla seat, told reporters during election campaigning on Saturday.
Abdullah was responding to a question on Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar’s ‘respect Pakistan’ remark that incited criticism from opposition parties. Aiyar’s comments in election season saying ‘Pakistan is a respected nation that also possesses an atom bomb’ was criticised by top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress also distances itself from his comments.
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As for as ties with Pakistan, (former PM) AB Vajpayee once said that you can change friends but not neighbours, Abdullah said. “A new government has been formed in Pakistan recently. A new government will be formed in India after the results are declared on June 4. We hope the leaders of both the countries create a conducive environment for talks and address issues,” he said.
Vajpayee had said in Parliament in 2003 that friendship with Pakistan should be maintained to the extent possible. “I have told our Pakistani friends that friends can be changed but not neighbours. We have to live here. We either live as friends or we keep fighting, making ourselves the butt of ridicule before the world,” Vajpayee told the Lok Sabha during a discussion on Indo-Pak ties on May 2003.
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Published: 11 May 2024, 09:10 PM IST