New Delhi: As soon as the party of Imran Khan, Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf won the Pakistani general election with the largest vote gain, India is keeping all its hopes up that the new government of Pakistan will work constructively to secure the South Asian region stable, secure without any terror and violence.
“We welcome that the people of Pakistan have reposed their faith in democracy through general elections,” the foreign ministry spokesperson said in response to a query on elections in Pakistan.
The statement is considered to be the first one on elections in the neighboring country that resulted in Imran Khan’s win with a total of 116 seats which fell short of 137 for a simple majority.
Before the results were out, he gave a victory speech seeing the higher numbers votes in his favor. In his speech, the politician had spoken his urgent desire to have good relations with India, especially one that concentrates on trade.
“I really want to fix our ties… “If they take one step towards us, we will take two, but at least (we) need a start,” he said in a presidential-style address from Islamabad.
After 22 years of struggle, according to Mr. Khan, he came to power for which he pitched for development, stability, and improvement of Pakistan’s economy. For that to happen, he talked about the importance of trade ties with India. “The number one priority of any government should be trade ties with India,” he said.
As of now, New Delhi had not responded to peace signals from Imran Khan due to the fact that he is still in talks with smaller parties and elected independents to form a coalition government.
“India desires a prosperous and progressive Pakistan at peace with its neighbors,” the foreign ministry said.
Nawaz Sharif, who was recently jailed over corruption charges, and his party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and several other parties have inquired about the outcome of the election results by alleging that vote-rigging in favor of Mr. Khan by the Army.
Ties between India and Pakistan have suffered a lot going through a crisis in the last few years over issues of cross-border terrorism. Relations with the country further suffered after terror attacks by Pakistan based groups on several military bases in India.
The Indian capital, New Delhi has been maintaining that Pakistan needs to act fast and take concrete steps to stop terror activities from its own soil before any meaningful talks can be held between the two countries to resolve the outstanding issues.
India is patiently watching very closely the outcome of Pakistan’s general elections in Pakistan over concerns that a hardline party at the helm will take effect the security of the people in Jammu and Kashmir as well as the rest of India in view of Pakistan’s support to terror.
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