Pakistan PM Sharif Says They Want to Resolve all Issues with India, Including Kashmir

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stated on Wednesday that Pakistan aims to resolve all issues, including Kashmir, through talks with India, as he reaffirmed his "unwavering" support for the Kashmiri people. Sharif made these remarks while addressing a special session of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) Legislative Assembly in Muzaffarabad on the occasion of "Kashmir Solidarity Day," an annual event in Pakistan to express solidarity with Kashmiris. 

"We want all issues, including Kashmir, to be resolved through talks,” Sharif remarked. 

"India should come out of the thinking of August 5, 2019, and fulfil promises made to the UN and launch a dialogue," he added, referring to the revocation of Article 370, which removed the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and divided the state into two Union Territories. 

Prime Minister Sharif said that the only path forward for Pakistan and India must be through dialogue, as outlined in the Lahore Declaration of 1999, agreed upon during the visit of then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Pakistan. 

India has consistently expressed its desire for normal, friendly relations with Pakistan in a terrorism-free, peaceful environment. and has repeatedly asserted to Pakistan that the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are, and will always remain, an integral part of the country. Relations between the two nations deteriorated significantly after India revoked Article 370. 

Sharif also accused India of stockpiling weapons, stating that amassing arms would not bring peace or improve the fate of people in the region. He urged India to pursue wisdom, saying that peace is the path to progress.  "Pakistan will continue to offer its unwavering moral, diplomatic and political support to the Kashmiri people till the realization of their right to self-determination," he affirmed. 

"The only solution to the Kashmir issue is the right of self-determination under the UNSC resolution...,” he added. 

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Sharif have called on the international community to pressure India into allowing Kashmiris to freely determine their future for lasting peace in the region. Anwarul Haq, the Prime Minister of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), emphasized that Pakistan represents the ultimate aspiration for Kashmiris, underscoring that regional peace hinges on resolving the Kashmir issue. (With Inputs from ANI)