Want Peace, but Will Not Stop Backing Kashmiri Struggle: PM Sharif

Sharif also said Pakistan wanted peace to pursue its development agenda.

(Photo: Courtesy: Twitter/ Khurram Dastagir-Khan)

Pakistan's cabinet met on Friday to review the situation on the Line of Control (LoC) in the wake of surgical strikes by the Indian Army.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired the meeting, which was convened to put across a collective response of the nation to the challenge thrown by the latest events, Radio Pakistan reported.

Sharif, addressing the cabinet meet, said that Islamabad wants peace in the region. However, this message was accompanied with a warning. He said:

We will not allow anyone to cast an evil eye on Pakistan.

Sharif also added that Pakistan will never end its moral, political and diplomatic support to the separatist campaign in Jammu and Kashmir.

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Sharif said Pakistan wanted peace to pursue its development agenda and desired peace to make economic progress and to battle poverty and unemployment.

However, he fired warning shots, by adding "but every Pakistani is ready to defend the motherland".

The entire country stands shoulder to shoulder with the armed forces, the Prime Minister added.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/ Khurram Dastagir-Khan)

Kashmir Unfinished Agenda of Partition: Sharif

But Sharif insisted that Kashmir was an "unfinished agenda of the partition of the sub-continent".

He said New Delhi's "continued brutalities" in Jammu and Kashmir was unacceptable to Pakistan.

Indian atrocities cannot suppress the passions of the Kashmiri people.

Pakistan’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz also echoed Sharif’s statement. Aziz said lending support to the struggle of the Kashmiri people would remain Pakistan's main priority.

He said India was "indulging in diversionary tactics in a bid to deflect attention of the international community from its brutalities against Kashmiris."

He said Pakistan would confront India diplomatically but "our armed forces are also fully prepared to defend the country."

Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif also reiterated that Pakistan does not want escalation of tension but it was ready to meet any eventuality.

(With IANS inputs.)