MIRPUR (AJK) - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday declared that dialogue with India would remain inconclusive and meaningless until resolution of the core issue of Kashmir.
“The resolution of Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions is imperative for durable peace in the region,” asserted the prime minister while addressing the joint session of Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly and Kashmir Council in Muzaffarabad.
Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan would continue to extend moral, diplomatic and political support to Kashmiri people for their unprecedented struggle for right to self-determination. He said Pakistan wanted meaningful and result-oriented dialogue with India for the resolution of all outstanding issues. However, no talks could prove fruitful without Kashmir dispute on the agenda.
The prime minister once again reaffirmed Pakistan would not accept any solution to the Kashmir dispute contrary to the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
Paying rich tributes to those who sacrificed their lives for the Kashmir cause, Nawaz Sharif said despite the brutal use of force by 700,000 Indian troops, the Kashmiri people were relentlessly struggling for their just cause.
Time is not far away when the clouds of oppression would shed and the Kashmiri people would see the dawn of independence, he said.
Nawaz Sharif said he had forcefully raised the Kashmir dispute at the international forums, including the United Nations and the OIC. He said the United Nations would have to break its silence on the implementation of its resolutions on the Kashmir dispute.
Referring to the close affinity between Pakistanis and Kashmiris spanning over centuries, the prime minister announced no power on the earth could break this strong bond.
About the uplift schemes in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan had been put on the path of development and it was his earnest desire that this area should prosper with the same pace. He said the government was providing resources for the timely completion of the development schemes in Azad Kashmir. “Resources have been provided for the Neelum-Jhelum Project as it would generate economic activity and prove beneficial for the local population,” he said.
The prime minister was of the considered view that Pakistan-China Economic Corridor project would also benefit the people of Azad Kashmir. “This project envisages construction of basic infrastructure and establishment of power plants. An expressway will be constructed from Khunjerab to Islamabad while work on Gilgit-Raikot section has already been started. Murree-Islamabad expressway will be extended to Muzaffarabad,” he announced.
The prime minister said he would visit Muzaffarabad early next month along with his team to review the development schemes. Special arrangements would be made for completion of all development schemes in Azad Kashmir, he said and promised the problems being faced by Kashmiri Muhajireen (refugees) would also be addressed on a priority basis.
He also announced the building of Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly would be constructed at the earliest, which would be a gift from Pakistan for AJK.
Referring to the war on terrorism, the prime minister said the menace would be eliminated at all costs and no compromise would be made on it. He said the operation against terrorists had been started with consensus. “Counterterrorism Force has become functional in the Punjab while this force will also be established in the other provinces,” he said, calling upon all the political parties to remain united to rid the country of this menace.
He asserted the government was working to further strengthen democracy and treating all the provinces equally.
Earlier, AJK Prime Minister Abdul Majid, in his remarks, appreciated the prime minister for forcefully representing the Kashmiri people at the United Nations and other international forums.
Leader of Opposition in Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly Raja Farooq Haider said the Kashmiri people had rendered matchless sacrifices in the struggle for self-determination.
Ex-AJK prime minister and opposition MLA, Sardar Attique Ahmad Khan, strongly condemned human rights abuses in the occupied valley by India. He proposed the Kashmiri people should also be associated with Pak-India dialogue for resolution of the longstanding Kashmir issue.
Meanwhile, talking to a delegation of All Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC) in Muzaffarabad, the prime minister said Pakistan was committed to a just and peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute in the light of the UN resolutions. He said Pakistan firmly believed that only a just resolution of Kashmir issue could bring lasting peace to the region.
The APHC leaders, including Syed Yousuf Naseem, Ghulam Muhammad Safi, Mahmood Ahmed Saghar and Rafique Ahmed Dar, expressed the hope that the Pakistan government would continue to support the just cause of Kashmiris at international forums.
Nawaz Sharif visited Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, to express solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their just and principled struggle for the achievement of their legitimate right to self-determination as promised by the world community through the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir.
Meanwhile, Kashmir Day was observed across Pakistan and Azad Kashmir to express solidarity with the people of Jammu and Kashmir, who are struggling for their right to self-determination.