By Aminul Islam Mirja
NEW DELHI, May 26, 2019 (BSS) – Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan today
greeted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the landslide election victory
of his BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) when the two leaders
discussed fighting poverty together, officials said today.
“Imran made a telephone call to Modi today and congratulated him on his
victory in the recent General Election in India,” an official of the Indian
premier’s office said.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs in a statement later said the two
leaders had discussed fighting poverty together when Modi “stressed that
creating trust and an environment free of violence and terrorism were
essential for fostering cooperation for peace, progress and prosperity in our
region”.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry lso issued a statement after their conversation
saying Khan “expressed his desire for both countries to work together for the
betterment of their peoples”.
The telephonic talks were their first conversation since before tit-for-tat
air strikes in February, the worst bust-up of the two nuclear powers in
years. The last time that the two premiers spoke is assumed to have been when
Modi congratulated his counterpart on his election victory in July 2018.
The Indian premier’s office officials said during the conversation, Modi
recalled his initiatives in line with his government’s “neighbourhood first”
policy and referred to his earlier suggestion to Khan to jointly fight
poverty.
The Indian premier also thanked his Pakistan counterpart for his
felicitation.
Earlier on Friday, the Pakistan premier in a tweet message to Modi
reiterated his vision for peace, progress and prosperity in South Asia and
said that he looked forward to working with Modi to advance these objectives.
Upon assuming office last year, Khan had expressed his desire to improve
relations with India, saying that “if they take one step towards us, we will
take two”.
But Khan’s statement and subsequent overtures did not yield the desired
result as anti-Pakistan sentiment appeared to be a dominant theme in pre-poll
campaigning in India, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper commented.
Relations between Pakistan and India reached a crisis point in February
after a suicide bombing in occupied Kashmir’s Pulwama that killed more than
40 Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir.
Besides, former President of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed, Former Prime
Minister of Nepal Madhav Nepal also called Modi today for congratulating him.