India and Pakistan will never fight a war, to even think of it is foolish: Imran Khan

Photo: Twitter/@PTIOfficial

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday borrowed heavily from cricketing nuances and literary works to highlight the need for his country to better relations with India. Speaking shortly after the laying the foundation stone for Kartarpur Corridor, he said the two nuclear-armed countries will never fight a war against each other.

Cricketer-turned-politician-turned-PM Imran said that cricketers who take risks and break the norms tend to be more successful than those who don't. He used the reference to explain just why both Pakistan and India should let go off traditional rivalries. "Where Pakistan and India stand today, we have seen such a situation for 70 years now. We will stay stuck this way unless we break the shackles of the past and stop blaming each other. There have been mistakes on both sides. (But) We should not live in the past. It should be used to learn lessons," he said.

Imran also attempted to mount a defence for Sidhu who was criticised in India for hugging Pakistan Army chief during his previous visit. "I just don't get the reactions Sidhu got after his last visit. Here was a man who came with a message of peace. Peace is what all of us want. Both our countries are nuclear powers. There can never be any war between Pakistan and India and to even think of it is absolutely foolish," he said.

Even as Imran calls for peace, India has maintained that bilateral talks cannot take place till Islamabad stops supporting terrorism. And while the Pakistani PM maintained that there needs to be a political will in India to establish good neighbourly relations, he did not address the issue of home-grown terrorism and the repeatedly established fact that the country's Army and ISI extends covert and overt support to terrorists.