Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that Pakistan wants “even-handed treatment” from the United States with respect to India making the South Asian region a hot-spot which could flare up at any time.
In an interview with German Magazine Der Spiegel, the premier said, “India is a threat to its neighbours, including China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.”
“That’s why we expect the US, as the strongest country in the world, to be even-handed, whoever becomes president. The US thinks India will contain China, which is a completely flawed premise. India is a threat to its neighbours, to China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and to us,” he said.
The Prime Minister said India currently is the most extremist and racist government in the subcontinent, inspired by the Nazis of 1920s and ‘30s. “Pakistan expects from the United States an even-handed treatment with respect to India, especially on the Kashmir dispute”, he emphasised.
Prime Minister underscored that the writings of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)—the intellectual forerunner of Indian’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party— openly admired Hitler. The Nazis wanted to get rid of the Jews and the RSS wanted to rid India of the Muslims, he said.
He said the United States thinks that India will contain China, which is a completely flawed premise.
In response to a question regarding how Pakistan was able to bring Taliban to the negotiating table, the premier stated that with over 2.7 million Afghans residing in Pakistan, Islamabad has a certain amount of leverage that the country uses to the utmost.
“We have no favourites in Afghanistan. Our only interest is that the future government in Kabul does not allow India to operate from there against Pakistan,” he stressed. He further stated that no one can predict which way things will go in Afghanistan right now.
What I can say is that after Afghanistan, the country that wants peace most is Pakistan,” he added.
About Afghanistan, the Prime Minister said from day one, his government has been fostering dialogue to resume peace in that country.
On a question concerning Pakistan passing a new law prohibiting criticism on the military, the Prime Minister said that the country has more freedom of speech than almost any Western state.
“As long as criticism is based on truth and facts, it will be accepted. Every day, our security forces lose people in battle. Every country protects its institutions, not when they do something wrong, but when they’re being attacked,” he stated.
He elaborated that there will be another way of dealing with the security forces – not through the media, but through the government. “I will speak to the army chief if I think there’s something wrong. There are always human rights violations in military operations and sometimes we speak about it when it happens. But this should not be done in public. When soldiers are risking their lives, you cannot demoralize them in public,” he added.