Former prime minister and Pakistan Teeek-e-Insaf chief, Imran Khan, sought a good relationship with neighbouring India but clarified that there was “no chance” of this happening while the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remains in power in Delhi.

“Establishing trade between the Pakistan and India will bring the potential economic benefits,” the PTI chief said in an interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph. But, he added, it would be impossible until Delhi changes its stance on the disputed region of Indian-administered Kashmir.

“We are stuck on this issue and we need a strong roadmap to resolve it,” he said, adding that the BJP had a nationalistic stance on issues.

“It is frustrating as you have no chance [for a resolution] as they whip up these nationalistic feelings. And, once this genie of nationalism is out of the bottle it is very difficult to put it back in again.”

He said that Pakistan could not accept that Kashmiris, who were given their right by the international community to choose their destiny through a plebiscite, had seen India steamroll this resolution.

The former prime minister said that the PTI-led government had to cool off relations with India after the statehood of Indian-administered Kashmir was taken away.

Pakistan formally downgraded its trade relations with India in August 2019 as a reaction to India’s decision to revoke Article 370 of its constitution that granted occupied Kashmir a special status.

The PTI chief said if elected, he would seek to establish good relations with all the neighbours of Pakistan including Afghanistan, Iran, China, and the US.

“We really need a relationship with both countries. What I do not want is another Cold War situation when we are in blocks like in the last Cold War we were allied with the United States,” he said, adding that his main concern for Pakistan was how to lift the nation out of poverty.

“The best way to do that is if we can have a relationship with everyone, to trade with everyone, so we can help our population,” he concluded.

China has referred to Pakistan as its “all-weather partner” and invested heavily in the country while Pakistan historically was an ally of the United States but relations have soured in recent years.