UNITED NATIONS: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday dispelled the impression that Iran had built the Chabahar port to prevent Gwadar from becoming a major international trade centre.

“[Iranian] President [Hassan] Rouhani has assured me that Gwadar and Chabahar complement each other. They do not compete with each other,” said Mr Sharif who met the Iranian leader here on Wednesday on the sidelines of the ongoing UN General Assembly session.

The prime minister held a breakfast meeting with the Pakistani media at a hotel on the final day of his visit. He will fly to London on Friday.

Pakistan, the premier and his team said, was not isolated as the entire international community had appreciated its position on Kashmir and other issues and noticed India’s atrocities against the Kashmiri people.

Dossier on Kashmir handed over to UN chief

“Iran, Afghanistan and India are not making a front against Pakistan. Such claims are baseless,” Mr Sharif said.

The PM then asked Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhary to explain the point. “It is absolutely wrong to suggest that we have been isolated. It is far from reality,” the secretary said. “In today’s world, alignments change, as every nation protects its interests,” he added, elaborating how China and Pakistan were working together on economically tangible projects.

“Everybody in the region is excited about the China-Pakistan Economic Corri­dor (CPEC). Iran, Turkey, Oman, Saudi Arabia and...Central Asian nations have all shown interest in these projects. All want to participate in these projects,” he said.

The prime minister said his visit focused on the Kashmir issue because the government felt that now was the time to tell the world how India was using brutal force to crush a popular uprising in the occupied Valley. “Indian forces have killed 107 people and injured thousands. Their pellet guns have blinded more than 150 people. It is important to tell the world what’s happening in Kashmir.”

He said that India was using the Uri attack to hide its own excesses. “They blamed Pakistan in less than 10 hours after the incident. How did they complete their investigation and come to a definitive conclusion in such a short time?” he asked. “A thorough investigation would take weeks, not hours. Even a lay person can see that this is blame, not investigation.”

Mr Sharif said that Pakistan was a victim, and not a perpetrator of terrorism. “Terrorists have killed more than 24,000 civilians in Pakistan and more than 50,000 have been wounded. Thousands of soldiers have also been martyred. The sacrifices of our troops, and policemen, cannot be ignored. We have paid a heavy price. We have to take this struggle [against terrorism] to a logical conclusion.”

He said that instead of blaming Pakistan for the Uri attack, India should try to understand what’s causing this unrest in held Kashmir.

“...UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was shocked when we showed him the picture of Indian atrocities,” said the prime minister who met Mr Ban on Wednesday. During the meeting Mr Sharif presented a dossier to the UN chief, containing evidence of Indian atrocities.

Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN Maleeha Lodhi told the briefing that Pakistan would share the dossier with five permanent members of the Security Council and world leaders.

PM Sharif said that the UN secretary general had sent him a letter in response to an earlier communication and offered to help. In his communication to Mr Ban, the prime minister had drawn his attention towards Indian authorities in the Valley.

“How long can the Kashmiri people be kept in chains? How long are they going to remain silent and not react to the killings?” asked the PM, explaining why he thought India should look for the cause within its own ranks for the Sept 18 attack.

“I raised this and the NSG issue with every world leader I met,” he said.

In May, Pakistan applied for the NSG’s membership and asked the international community not to make an exception for India alone and instead open the Nuclear Suppliers Group’s doors for other nations as well.

On the Kashmir issue, the prime minister said that Turkey, Saudi Arabia and China strongly supported Pakistan’s position and Turkey offered to send a team to held Kashmir to probe India’s actions.

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2016