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| Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharif (Image: Wiki Commons) |
By Ankit Panda
Pakistan’s chief of military staff, in an address, emphasized Kashmir’s importance for Pakistan.
In an address at Pakistan’s National Defense University (NDU), Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharif delivered one of his strongest speeches on Kashmir to date. He described Kashmir as an “unfinished agenda” of the partition of British India in 1947, and underlined that Kashmir was “inseparable” from Pakistan. The speech was shared by social media through Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Twitter feed.
Sharif noted that the Kashmir issue would have to be resolved in order to attain peace with India; he proposed a resolution in line with previous United Nations resolutions. ”While we wish peace, stability in the region, we want Kashmir’s just resolution in the light of UN resolutions and as per aspirations of Kashmiris to bring lasting peace in the region,” he remarked. Sharif additionally discussed the changing contours of warfare in South Asia. He noted that Pakistan could keep up in the region, and was capable of defending its territory and interests.
He continued that “while [Pakistan's] enemies are supporting terrorism to stoke sub conventional conflicts and destabilise [sic] our country … [Pakistan is] fully determined and capable of defeating nefarious designs.” Sharif went on to criticize the use of proxy forces. He noted that Pakistan was “opposed to the use proxies versus other countries and would not allow any country to use proxies versus Pakistan.” Sharif’s remarks on proxies and the use of terrorism by Pakistan’s enemies were directed at India.
Read the full story at The Diplomat