ISLAMABAD – Asserting that his country wants peace and not war, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said Pakistan has done everything to bring India to the dialogue table but New Delhi did not let that happen.
Addressing a joint session of Parliament, he also spoke about the ‘surgical strikes’ carried out by the Indian Army across the Line of Control (LoC).
“On September 28, India’s ceasefire violation resulted in the death of our two soldiers. It was befittingly responded and was conveyed that Pakistan Army is fully capable to respond to any aggression.”
Apparently responding to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that both nations should battle to eradicate poverty, Sharif said if New Delhi wants Islamabad to fight them to end poverty then the Asian neighbour should realise that “poverty cannot be ended by driving tanks on farmlands”.
Sharif said within hours of the terrorist attack on the Indian Army camp in Uri, India started blaming Pakistan for it without carrying out any investigation.
Sharif said Pakistan has a firm commitment to continue its support to “Kashmiris for their legitimate” struggle.
The UN resolutions on Kashmir are still on the agenda of the UN Security Council and the international community should take immediate steps for implementation on these resolutions, Radio Pakistan reported Sharif as saying.
Kashmir is “burning continuously like a volcano and a convoy of Hurriyat is on its way to achieve the objectives”, Sharif said.
“Indian forces cannot suppress the struggle of Kashmiris for right to self-determination.”
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced that it would boycott Wednesday’s joint parliamentary session on the Kashmir issue, with party chairman Imran Khan saying his party would no longer endorse this Parliament.
“We fully back Kashmiris’ right to self-determination,” said Imran, adding there wasn’t much left for discussion in the joint session of Parliament.
He said that Nawaz Sharif had lost the moral authority to stay as the Prime Minister and that Tehreek-i-Insaf would no longer endorse this parliament.
