30 July 2018•Update: 31 July 2018
By Aamir Latif and Ahmad Adil
KARACHi, Pakistan / NEW DELHI, India
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday telephoned Pakistan’s likely premier Imran Khan to congratulate him on his party’s victory in last week’s elections, local media reported.
Modi congratulated Khan “for his party emerging as the largest political party in the National Assembly of Pakistan in the recently conducted general elections," said an Indian Foreign Ministry statement.
Modi “expressed hope that democracy will take deeper roots in Pakistan” and “reiterated his vision of peace and development in the entire neighborhood,” said the statement.
According to Pakistan’s Express TV, Modi also said New Delhi was ready to start a “new era of relations” with Islamabad and would cooperate with the new Pakistani government on a joint strategy to improve bilateral relations.
Thanking Modi for his goodwill gesture, Khan -- whose center-right Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has emerged as the single largest party in last week’s elections -- said the two sides should focus on policies beneficial to the poor people of both countries.
“Wars and bloodshed are not the solution to problems but only cause disasters and tragedies. Therefore, the two countries should concentrate on resolving issues through talks,” Khan was quoted as saying.
Tensions between the two nuclear neighbors failed to ease after 19 Indian soldiers were killed in Indian-held Kashmir in 2016 by militants India claimed had links to Pakistan.
Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.
Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.
Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.
Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.
According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.
