No terrorism in Kashmir: Nawaz Sharif

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday said India would be “mistaken” if it equated the “freedom struggle” of the Kashmiri people with terrorism.

“India is mistaken if it considers that a freedom fight can be equated with terrorism,” said Sharif, adding the Kashmiris were fighting for their right to self-determination and Pakistan would continue to support them.

“Pakistan is committed to the Kashmir cause. No power in the world can stop us from supporting the freedom struggle of Kashmiris,” he said, chairing a meet of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s central working committee.

He said that Burhan Wani, the Kashmiri youth killed by the Indian security forces, was a freedom fighter and the “pride of Kashmiris”. “No one can deprive him (Wani) of that pride,” he added.

Sharif said his government’s agenda was of “development and progress”, but certain people wanted to derail this process and “only believed in protests”. He added that democracy gave the right to protest, but with some limits. This was an apparent response to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan’s call to shut down Islamabad on October 30.

He said the mining process had started in Thar and also coal-based power plants were being installed.

The Prime Minister said that since assumption of power in 2013, the government had been facing several challenges but was overcoming them too, adding that terrorist activities had been reduced significantly and the economy had been strengthened.

He added that the Karachi operation, started with the consultation of all stakeholders, was yielding positive results.

About the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Prime Minister said the $46 billion project of infrastructure development would benefit Balochistan the most.

He said the government was also focusing on the social sector, with several hospitals to be built in the next 18 months.