Imran Khan asked Narendra Modi to resume cricketing ties with Pakistan – Here's the response

New Delhi: Former Pakistani skipper Imran Khan, who attended an ICC World Twenty20 match in India, also spoke to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi trying to convince him to resume cricketing ties with their arch-rivals.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, Khan called on Modi and told him that India and Pakistan should resume cricketing ties. But in reply, all he reportedly got in response was a smile.

“I did say he should start the tours, but it was the first time I was meeting him (Modi). If it was our second meeting, I would have said it’s a very immature foreign policy,” said Khan.

Expressing disappointment over the impasse, Khan said that all Pakistanis cannot be punished for the incident.

“It’s very immature to punish Pakistan for something they did not agree with. This idea of collective punishment... no human rights (principle) calls for collective punishment. Everyone here condemned the Mumbai and Pathankot attacks. Mind you, we suffer far more terrorist attacks than you do every other day. So, to blame a country that’s actually suffering from the worst form of terrorism, and then to give it this collective punishment, is just very immature,” he said.

Since 2007, the two countries have not played a bilateral series except for short series of three ODIs and two T20 Internationals in the winter of 2012/13 when Pakistan undertook a tour of India.