Kashmir a litmus test of leaders’ foresight: Sharif
MUZAFFARABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has described the Kashmir issue as a litmus test of the political foresight of Indian and Pakistani leadership and expressed the hope that dialogue would be held soon to resolve the lingering dispute.
Addressing a joint sitting of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly and the AJK Council, especially convened on Friday to mark Kashmir Solidarity Day, he said there was a big question mark on the goodwill, prestige and authority of the United Nations because of the Kashmir issue.
Though the speech did carry implied notes of caution for India, Mr Sharif by and large adopted a soft and reconciliatory tone.
Kashmiri people are demanding nothing but what was pledged to them by the United Nations. The United Nations has to tell the world why it has failed to implement its own resolutions. “This question is not just linked to the Kashmir issue or Pakistan-India dispute, but to the goodwill, prestige and authority of the world body,” he said.
Rallies and other programmes were held across Pakistan and AJK in support of Kashmiris struggling for their right to self-determination.
Mr Sharif said Kashmir had been yearning for peace since 1947 and the situation warranted a new thinking in South Asia.
History is once again asking the leadership in India and Pakistan that what they will leave behind for the coming generations — peace or hostilities?
PM says the dispute raises questions about the goodwill and prestige of UN
He said Pakistan had tried to give a new vision to the region, based on mutual respect and mutual struggle for peace and economic prosperity, adding that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was a reflection of that desire.
“Prosperity and peace can be equally distributed only when the people of whole region are treated equally and respectfully. Human rights of all are respected and right to freedom of all is acknowledged,” he said. But how could South Asia remain in peace when one of its parts — Kashmir — languished in pain, he asked.
He said that the governments in Islamabad and New Delhi could not ignore these questions. “Both governments enjoy public mandate and both will have to think in the interest of their peoples.”