'We Want To Have Permanent Peace With India': Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif

Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif made this statement at an interaction with students at Harvard University.

Shehbaz Sharif and Narendra Modi.

(Photo: The Quint)

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that Pakistan wants to have "permanent peace" with India. The Pakistan PM made this statement while speaking to a delegation of students from Harvard University, The News International reported.

"Pakistan resolves to maintain peace in the region, and that sustainable peace in the region was linked to the resolution of the Kashmir issue as per the UN resolutions," he said.

"We want permanent peace with India through dialogue as war is not an option for either of the countries," he was quoted as saying in the report.

The relationship between the two countries has grown more strained over the last few years, with Kashmir often becoming the flashpoint of this tussle.

'Pakistan Not an Aggressor': Sharif

During the interaction with the students at the Harvard University, Sharif asserted that Islamabad and New Delhi should have competition in trade, economy, and in the quest to improve the conditions of their people.

He said Pakistan was not an aggressor, but its nuclear assets and the trained army are deterrence. Sharif also said that Islamabad spends on its military to protect their frontiers and not for aggression.

In response to a question about Pakistan's economy, he said that the country's economic crisis stems from structural problems along with political instability in the past few decades.

"Overtime, we lost the edge in sectors in which we were ahead. The lack of focus, energy and policy action led to reduction in national productivity," Sharif added.

Pakistan has seen immense political instability and economic turmoil in the last few years.

Tweeting about his interaction, Sharif wrote: "In an interactive session with students of Harvard Business School today, my core argument was that the state of economy is directly linked to political stability. My economic action plan has 3 prongs: revitalization of agriculture, promotion of IT & making economy export-driven."

With the rising current account deficit at $13.2 billion in the first nine months and pressing external loan repayment requirements, Pakistan required financial assistance of $9-12 billion till June 2022 to avert further depletion of foreign currency reserves.

Sharif said the country witnessed impressive growth across all sectors of the economy during the first few decades since its creation.

(With inputs from PTI.)