ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday said the possibility of ending the current stalemate with India was subject to the restoration of Kashmir’s autonomy. “Talking with India would be a betrayal of the Kashmiri people who have suffered so much and who live in an open-air prison environment with 800,000 troops deployed in the region,” he said in an interview with French daily Le Figaro.
PM Khan said India’s unilateral decision of August 5, 2019 was in violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 47. “It is possible to build a relationship with India, but this requires the restoration of Kashmir’s autonomy. They have violated international law with this abrogation,” he said. The prime minister said the attitude of the BJP government and the RSS (a right-wing Hindu fundamentalist group) towards Pakistan and Kashmir was “worrisome” that had led to a “dead end”.
While addressing the launching ceremony of “Raast”, Pakistan’s instant digital payment system, an initiative of the State Bank of Pakistan Prime Minister Khan Tuesday while terming the 220 million population of the country as ‘the biggest human resource and asset’ underlined the need of bringing all into the formal economy through use of modern technology and gadgets. The initiative would enable person to person transactions and facilitate free digital banking.
The prime minister observed that unless they utilized the modern technological revolution to bring the whole population into the loop of formal economy, this huge asset would, otherwise, become a burden.. Moreover, Prime Minister Khan on Tuesday sent back a summary of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) proposing an increase of Rs 12.3 per liter in petrol price to the Finance Ministry for review. According to sources, after the rise in oil prices in the global market, OGRA had sent a summary to the Prime Minister s Office proposing to increase petrol price by Rs12.3 per liter. The proposal was in line with the terms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sources further said that PM Imran Khan returned the summary to the Ministry of Finance for review following which on the directive of PM Imran, the Ministry of Finance will reconsider the increase in the prices of petroleum products. According to sources, Imran Khan has said that petrol prices cannot be increased so much.