(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) PM says the world rightly saw it as another missed opportunity googletag.Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif criticized India in his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday for withdrawing from planned peace talks last month over the disputed region of Kashmir.
Sharif travelled to India’s capital New Delhi in May for the inauguration of Narendra Modi as the country’s prime minister. The visit raised hopes of progress in the six-decade-old dispute which has resulted in one of the world’s most heavily militarised borders.
Those hopes stalled in August when India announced it was withdrawing from the planned peace talks in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad between the two nuclear-armed neighbours because of plans by Pakistan to consult Kashmiri separatists ahead of the meeting.
“We were disappointed at the cancellation of the foreign secretary-level talks by India” Sharif told the 193 member countries of the General Assembly. “The world community too rightly saw it as another missed opportunity.”
Sharif has made improving relations with India a political priority despite the apparent reluctance of Pakistan’s powerful military and security establishment. Pakistan he said wanted to resolve the problem “through negotiations.”
Modi who was due to address the assembly on Saturday has accused Pakistan of engaging in a “proxy war or terrorism” in Kashmir. The Himalayan region is claimed by both sides but has been divided since a war between the two countries following their partition in 1947 following the end of British colonial rule.
India says Pakistan supports separatist militants that cross the Line of Control — which divides Kashmir into India- and Pakistan-controlled regions — from the Pakistan side to attack Indian forces. Pakistan says India’s military is abusing the human rights of Muslim Kashmiris.
Meanwhile Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry has said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif presented the country’s definitive viewpoint in the United Nations in full adding Pakistan will continue its undeterred support for the political resolution of Kashmir issue.
Talking to the media after the address of the prime minister at General Assembly in New York Aizaz said whole nation is united on the Kashmir issue and Indian discontent doesn’t bother us.
The PM strongly represented Pakistan’s stance in the General Assembly whereas Pakistan would continue its political struggle over the Kashmir issue he added. He said Pakistan expects the relationship with India on the basis of equality.
The foreign secretary also maintained the country initiated Operation Zarb-e-Azb on its own accord not at anybody’s behest but in national interest.
Referring to PM’s meeting with Joe Biden Aizaz said both leaders discussed nuclear stability and energy crisis in quite a pleasant setting.
The foreign secretary said Pakistan would continue its efforts to ensure world peace.
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