UNGA: Nawaz Sharif Plays Kashmir Card, Hails Hizbul Militant Burhan Wani

United Nations: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday raised the Kashmir issue at the UN General Assembly and said that peace between India and Pakistan can only be achieved if the Kashmir issue is solved.

Repeatedly mentioning Kashmir and India in his 20 minute address, Sharif said that Pakistan fully supports Kashmiris right to self-determination.

Sharif added that Pakistan was ready to enter into a serious & sustained dialogue with India for peaceful resolution of all outstanding disputes, especially J&K.

Sharif also glorified slain terrorist and Hizbul commander Burhan Wani as a "young leader" even as he expressed readiness for a "serious and sustained dialogue" with India for peaceful resolution of all outstanding disputes, especially Jammu and Kashmir.

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Sharif devoted much of his speech at the UN General Assembly session to Kashmir and the current situation in the valley and said Pakistan "fully supports the demand of the Kashmiri people for self-determination".

He demanded an "independent inquiry into the extra-judicial killings" and a UN fact-finding mission to Kashmir "so that those guilty of these atrocities are punished."

Indian brutalities are well documented" and that "Pakistan will share with the Secretary General a dossier containing detailed information and evidence of the gross and systematic violations of human rights committed" in Jammu and Kashmir," Sharif added.

"The Security Council has called for the exercise of the right to self-determination by the people of Jammu and Kashmir through a free and fair plebiscite held under UN auspices.

The people of Kashmir have waited 70 years for implementation of this promise," he said, adding the Security Council must honour its commitments by implementing its own decisions.

Sharif, who spoke amid heightening tensions between India and Pakistan, insisted that his country wants peace with the neighbour as "confrontation should not be our destiny in South Asia."

Let us be clear: talks are no favor to Pakistan. Talks are in the interest of both countries. They are essential to resolve our differences, especially the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, and to avert the danger of any escalation.

Sharif said that for Pakistan this is an "objective evaluation, not a partisan position."

"Today, from this rostrum, I would also like to reiterate our offer to India to enter into a serious and sustained dialogue for the peaceful resolution of all outstanding disputes, especially Jammu and Kashmir," Sharif said.

Pakistan is "ready for talks to agree on a bilateral nuclear test ban treaty," he added.

Claiming that Pakistan "neither wants, nor is engaged in an arms race with India", Sharif said, "We have consistently urged the conclusion of bilateral arms control and disarmament measures between Pakistan and India to prevent conflict and avoid wasteful military expenditures."

India has blamed Pakistan for engineering and fuelling the unrest.

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