Imran proposes Indo-Pak civil nuclear energy plant
09 December, 2013
LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan said on Sunday the PTI has given a proposal to establish a joint Indo-Pak civil nuclear energy plant.
Talking to reporters after returning from India, he said his party wanted a peaceful and permanent solution to the Kashmir issue.
Imran said that without resolving the core issues of Kashmir and water, Indo-Pak relations could not be improved.
He said that good relations with neighbours would improve trade and business activities in the region which would help fight poverty and unemployment.
Imran said that it is need of the hour to control terrorism and extremism. He said during his stay in India, he held meetings with Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi besides other leadership of Bharatiya Janata party and exchanged valuable ideas.
The PTI chief said the issues of Indian involvement in Balochistan and Mumbai attacks also came under discussion. Imran said both the neighbouring countries needed a leadership that did not believe war as the solution to their problems. "We need strong and visionary leaders. War is not an option in solving any issue," he added.
He hoped that India and Pakistan would have a future like the European Union, with people moving freely between the two countries.
Earlier speaking at an event in New Delhi, Imran said that there could be no military solution to the Kashmir dispute between the two countries and there could be no solution through militancy. He indicated that "dialogue across the table" between the two countries was the only way to solve the six-decade-old Kashmir dispute.
"War is not an option, hostilities are not an option," added Imran. In the next six months, however, India and Pakistan were unlikely to see any movement forward in their peace process as India goes to election mode and Pakistan grapples with militancy ahead of the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan starting next year, he indicated.
He was accompanied by PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi and other party leaders. Qureshi said that Imran held meetings with Rahul Gandhi and other Indian politicians who applauded his ideology of "change" and firmness in the struggle aimed at making Pakistan a sovereign and stable country.
Meanwhile, the government has discarded PTI Chief Imran Khan's proposal for launching civil nuclear energy projects on the Pak-India border to cater to the energy needs of the two countries.
Imran Khan, who visited India accompanied by former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, floated the idea after getting back home.The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was the first to turn down the proposal and castigated Imran Khan and PTI in strong words.
Prime Minister's advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz termed the idea impracticable. "The proposal cannot be viewed as serious to discuss about," he remarked in a brief chat here Sunday evening. According to government sources the state of relations between the countries wouldn't allow such ideas.
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