Want to hold talks with India to resolve Kashmir issue, says Imran Khan after poll victory

Ecstatic after his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or PTI’s historic march towards majority mark in the 11^th Pakistan general elections, cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan on Thursday advocated for “good relations” with India and said that he would like to sit across the table with his Indian counterpart to resolve the Kashmir issue.

“We have to resolve Kashmir issue by sitting across the table, If India's leadership is willing then the both of us can solve this issue through dialogue. It will be good for the subcontinent also,” Khan said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad.

The PTI chief said that he was saddened by the way Indian media projected him as "Bollywood villain" even as he was one of the Pakistanis who wanted to have friendly relations with India.

“I was saddened by the way Indian media recently projected me. I am a person who arguably knows the most people in India because of my days in cricket. We can resolve the poverty crisis in South East Asia.  I am one of those Pakistanis that wants good relations with India, if we want to have a poverty-free subcontinent then we must have good relations and trade ties,” Khan said.

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Will work to eradicate poverty: Imran Khan

Khan, who is set to become the new prime minister of Pakistan, said that he would work to eradicate poverty from the country, citing the example of China's "unprecedented" efforts to lift nearly 70 crore people out of poverty in the last 30 years.

"I thank god, after 22 years of struggle, my prayers have been answered. I have got the chance to fulfil my dream and serve the nation. We have to fight poverty, it's a big challenge. China is the biggest example in front of us, it lifted 70 crore people out of poverty in the last 30 years, it was unprecedented," the former cricketer said.

Repurpose PM house

The former Pakistan cricket team captain said that he will be ashamed to live the prime minister's house and would instead turn that in an educational institution as it was quite big for one person to live in.

"Our government will decide what we will do with PM House. I would be ashamed to live in such a large house. That house will be converted into an educational institution or something of the sort," Khan said.

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"I will live humbly," he promised. "So far we have seen that everyone who comes to power changes. That will not happen with me."

Khan's party PTI emerged as the single largest party with lead in 120 seats in the slow count of 1th Pakistan general elections vote. With the lead in 120 seats, the PTI was just 17 sort of the majority mark of 137 directly contested national assembly seats. The PTI's closest rival Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslims League-Nawaz (PML-N). PML-N was a distant second with a lead in just 61 National Assembly seats.