Vankwani also met Minster of State for External Affairs General VK Singh, the four-star general who has also served as the Indian army chief.
“I have communicated a positive note to the Indian leaders and I hope there will now be a change in their behaviour,” Vankwani said on Saturday while talking to The Express Tribune over telephone.
The Sindh-based PTI leader, who is a lawmaker on minority seat, is in India on a religious trip amid heightened tensions between the two rival states in the wake of February 14 suicide attack that killed at least 40 India paramilitaries in occupied Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Vankwani said he encountered Modi during an event and the Indian PM met him warmly. He said he told Modi that he had come with a positive message and wanted to return with a positive message. He said later on Modi’s directive, Sushma Swaraj also held a 25-minute-long meeting with him.
“I told the Indian foreign minister that in Pakistan its captain’s [Prime Minister Imran Khan] government now; he is a Pathan and he does what he says. We assure you that no Pakistani institution is involved in Pulwama attack. If India provides evidence, we will facilitate the investigation,” Vankwani said.
According to the MNA, he told Swaraj that the two countries need to take lessons from past and not to hold on to it. “Enmity can be brought to an end by befriending the enemy,” he said, adding that he himself has returned after Ganga Ashnan (ablution) and never tells lies.
“I told them that we need to get out of politics of accusations,” he added.
According to Vankwani, after the meeting he felts that the atmosphere was beginning to thaw. “Indian PM during his Rajasthan rally has hinted at holding dialogue with Pakistan,” he added.
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Diplomacy