Pakistan wants to resolve all issues, including Kashmir, with India through talks: PM Sharif

Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said Pakistan wants to resolve all issues, including Kashmir, with India through talks as he reiterated his "unwavering" support for the Kashmiri people.

Sharif made the remarks while addressing a special session of the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) Legislative Assembly in Muzaffarabad on the occasion of the "Kashmir Solidarity Day", an annual Pakistani event to show support for the Kashmiris.

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

"India should come out of the thinking of August 5, 2019, and fulfil promises made to the UN and launch a dialogue," he said, referring to the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution that revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories.

Prime Minister Sharif said that the only way forward for Pakistan and India was a dialogue, as already written in the Lahore Declaration of 1999, which was agreed upon when then-prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Pakistan.

India has repeatedly said it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan in an environment free of terror, hostility and violence.

India has repeatedly told Pakistan that the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh “was, is and shall forever” remain an integral part of the country. The ties between the two countries nosedived after India abrogated Article 370.

Sharif also accused India of amassing weapons, saying that accumulation of arms would not bring peace or change the fate of people of this region. He urged India to be wise, saying the way to progress was peace.  "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 said.

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

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Sharif also asked the international community to put pressure on India to allow the Kashmiri people to "freely determine their future for lasting peace in the region".    Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, the Service Chiefs, and the Pakistan Armed Forces also reaffirmed their support for the people of Kashmir.

PoK "Prime Minister" Anwarul Haq said that Pakistan was the final destination of Kashmiris, and said that peace in the region would not be possible until the issue of Kashmir was resolved.  The state-run Radio Pakistan reported that posters and billboards have been displayed around important avenues, airports, and railway stations on the occasion.