Pakistan Prime Minister praised slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani once again today and said that his sacrifice has brought the Kashmir movement to its defining moment.
Addressing the joint session of Pakistani Parliament, Nawaz Sharif said, “Burhan Wani's sacrifice has brought Kashmir movement to a defining moment. Kashmiris have taken it upon themselves to carry on movement of freedom against Indian aggression.”
Nawaz Sharif, however, said that Pakistan was against war with India.
“We are against war, we want peace and want to resolve all issues including Kashmir peacefully,” he said.
Nawaz Sharif accused India of blaming Pakistan for Uri attacks without proper investigation.
“Within hours of Uri attack and without any investigation, India blamed Pakistan for it,” he told the joint session of parliament.
The Pakistani Prime Minister also blamed India for stalling talks between the two countries despite repeated attempts by Pakistan.
“We have done everything to make India come to the dialogue table, but India did not let it happen, " he said.
Responding to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s taunt asking Pakistan to battle India on who can eradicate poverty and illiteracy first, Nawaz Sharif said,"They want us to compete with them to end poverty. They should realize that poverty will not end if tanks are being driven through farmlands.”
However, he stuck to Pakistani government’s stand on surgical strikes carried out by Indian Army in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and asserted that Indian forces had not crossed LoC.
"India's ceasefire violation resulted in the death of two of our soldiers. We gave a fitting response to this, and conveyed that the Pakistan Army is fully capable and prepared to respond to any aggression," he said.
Pakistani government had called the joint session of the parliament to project a picture of unity among political parties but the boycott of the session by the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) came as a dampener.
Even other opposition parties openly questioned diplomatic failure on part of Pakistani government by giving out the example of the cancellation of SAARC summit.
"India openly says they are going to isolate Pakistan. We have to ask ourselves why our foreign policy is so weak, why Pakistan feels isolated in the international arena. The SAARC Summit is an example," Opposition leader Syed Khurshid Shah of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said.
"Five countries refused to attend the summit. We should have anticipated and countered this. Also, two of the countries that pulled out were Muslim countries. Afghanistan and Bangladesh continue to grow further apart from us," he added.
